Of Different Worlds
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: [AU] What could have happened if Kai hadn't lost to Tyson on Baikal Lake? After a little accident Kai finds himself in a, let's say, different world. This is all a joke... Right? [Mostly Kai's PoV] [Concrit welcome] [Going through edits. Again]
1. Predictability

_Hi, this is my third Beyblade fic. I guess I'd better start with the disclaimer._

_Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me._

_This is set in after the first series after the Black Dranzer incident but it's not necessarily the second series. So it's like, in between the two series. Okay, with that said I just hope that this fic will be a better hit than my other ones. Although this is my third Beyblade fic this is going to be my first time to using the original characters so I'm sorry if they seem a little OOC._

_Anyways, does that grassy plain next to the river have a proper name? It's the place where Tyson first met Kai and Zeo. If you can help me, thanks if you do._

_Now enjoy._

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**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Predictability

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_'Of all the things that I could be doing on a Saturday afternoon, I have to do it with Tyson,'_ Kai thought irritably while walking to the riverbank. _'Why did I agree to go?'_ he asked himself. _'Couldn't he have just done the same with the others? I guess he wanted to do this as a team as usual.'_ Wonderful. Not everything had to be done as a team, Kai groused; sometimes it was better to just train on your own.

"Kai! There you are - what took you so long?" Tyson shouted from below him as soon as he saw his team captain. Looking around, Kai could see that there was no-one else there. It was deserted except for the four boys standing there.

"I walked," Kai replied as he started to walk down the hill. Why else would it have taken him so long to get there after getting the phonecall from Chief to meet them at the river bankside.

"Why didn't you take a bus?" Tyson asked as Kai neared them.

"I didn't feel like taking it." _'It's not as if it's pouring down with rain.'_ Hell, there were hardly any clouds in the sky for that matter. Kai glanced up again for a second just to make sure that thunder clouds didn't appear out of nowhere just to spite him.

"Are you going to hurry up or not?" Tyson asked in exasperation.

Kai ignored the question but he didn't quicken his pace either.

"Okay, since everybody's here now I thought we could do a little more we're training," Kenny said, filling in the silence once Kai was standing amongst them.

"Aw… but Chief!" complained Tyson, waving his arms in the air. "What's the point? We're the World Champs; no-one's better than us at beyblading!" he exclaimed.

"Tyson, that doesn't really matter. What about next year? There will probably be another tournament so we probably would need to practice," Ray pointed out.

"I guess so," Tyson sighed in defeat and his shoulders slumped. "So what have you got planned for us then Chief?" he asked, turning towards the shorter boy.

"Well I was thinking about getting you guys warmed up first so Tyson and Max should have a beybattle together."

"Sure Chief."

"I'll do the countdown," Ray volunteered. "Three… two… one! Let it rip!"

Max and Tyson yanked at their ripcords when Ray had finished. Soon the cries of 'Dragoon!' and 'Draciel!' could be heard on the wind as well as the sounds of metal clashing against each other.

"So who do you think is going to win?" Ray asked Kai, walking up to him.

Crossing his arms and not looking at Ray, Kai said, "You're asking my opinion?" It had barely been a week since the World Championships but Kai's friends still seemed to be treating him like they always did.

Ray sighed and absentmindedly scratched one of his bound arms. "Look Kai, after what happened I'm not surprised that you aren't sure of what we think of you. But we're still your friends. Yes, even Tyson," Ray said with a small smile, seeing Kai's look of disbelief out f the corner of his eye. With a small shake of his head, he continued. "We trust you. We might have questioned your actions before but when it was explained we understood some of what was happening. We don't understand all of it; we probably won't unless you're willing to tell us." Ray gave Kai a meaningful look that was completely ignored. "But that doesn't matter. That was in the past; this is now. So, are you going to answer my question and tell me who do you think is going to win?"

Kai was quiet as he studied the two beybladers in front of him and mulled over what Ray had just said. "Max," he said finally after a few seconds. "They're using their usual tactics and Tyson still doesn't have the patience to wait." He felt mildly annoyed by that fact. Tyson had always nearly charged straight into beybattles without thought and yet, Kai had been beaten by him. It didn't make any sense.

At the moment Kai said that, Tyson shouted out, "Dragoon tornado attack!"

As the wind picked up -with the white beyblade being the source of it- the green beyblade stayed in the middle of the beydish as it had been from the very beginning of the battle.

Ray shook his head in amusment. "Gee, doesn't this look familiar?"

And indeed it did. Like the other times Tyson had done this against Max, the result were always the same. Right after Dragoon had done the attack he was always a little bit unstable and that was when Draciel would do a counterattack. And like all the other times, the match had ended with Dragoon spinning out of the beydish.

"Tyson, how many times have I told you to wait to attack and not just attack without thinking?" Max scolded his friend lightly as Tyson picked up Dragoon from the ground.

Scratching the back of his head and smiling sheepishly, Tyson replied, "I wanted to see if I could catch ya off guard."

Kai snorted. "That's what you said the last time that happened. And the time before that. And the time before that. And-"

"Okay, okay! I get the picture already. Jeez, aren't we touchy today?" Tyson scowled in the Russian blader's direction.

Chief sighed tiredly. As always, when Tyson had lost against Max an argument always broke out between him and Kai. They didn't shout at each other or anything of the sort but since it was a bit more than bickering, it was considered an argument.

Just like how Tyson's loss against Max was predictable, so was what happened next.

"If you're going to be like that how about a beybattle!" Tyson, ever hot-tempered, had challenged Kai… again.

In return for this outburst Kai just smirked. Pulling out Dranzer and his launcher from his pocket, Kai took the place where Max had been standing a few minutes before.

The only sounds that were heard was the wind blowing past, moving over the river and the continued tapping of Chief on his laptop. Max was standing next to Ray on the sidelines.

In unison, Kai and Tyson said the usual countdown, "Three… two… one! Let it rip!"

Even though the day had started as normal and had nearly completely mirrored the events that had occurred each time the five of them had gotten together, this was when things started to differ.

Tyson hadn't checked where he was aiming when he had pulled on this ripcord. His eyes widened in surprise and then horror when he saw where Dragoon was headed.

Straight for Kai's head.

Because Kai was watching Dranzer after pulling the ripcord, he only noticed something was wrong was when he didn't see Dragoon landing into the dish. Swiftly glancing up, he had just enough time to see the oncoming 'blade but not enough to do anything about it.

_Thwak._

Kai's head jerked back as if he had been punched; the rest of his body quickly followed suit. As Kai was lying on the ground, the four boys around him noticed that he wasn't moving and that his eyes were closed. The strange thing was, at the same time that Kai was hit Dranzer had stopped spinning. Not that anyone noticed this since they were more concerned with her blader.

Running up to the supine boy they were surprised to see that there wasn't a mark on Kai's forehead. There wasn't even a red mark or bruising there.

Chief was instantly on his knees checking for a pulse. He heaved a sigh when he found it.

"You guys, Kai's fine. He's unconscious but he's fine. He might have concussion when he wakes up but…" he trailed off as he stood up, his hands fidgeting with each other.

They all sighed in relief, Tyson more so than the others for obvious reasons. He laughed weakly. "Heh. Who thinks that Kai's going to kill me when he wakes up?"

Ray tried to glare at the boy in front of him but couldn't help but smile a little bit as well. "Well Tyson, it _is_ your fault that you hit him in the first place you know."

"I know, I know," Tyson admitted. "I don't know what happened though. I mean, how did I end up hitting Kai? To do that I would have to have been aiming up the ways and I'm pretty sure that I wasn't." As Tyson was saying this, he bent down on one knee to retrieve Dragoon from beside Kai's head. He then noticed something that he wouldn't have seen from where he was standing up. "Huh?" he muttered to himself.

"But still," Ray continued, not hearing Tyson, "there's no other explanation for that happening so it means that you must have aimed higher –a lot higher- than what you normally do." It was unsaid that that was practically impossible. They each knew the normal height that they held their beyblades and that was usually around about shoulder level. Tyson was shorter than Kai, and, as he had pointed out himself, Tyson would have had to have aimed up instead of keeping his arms straight at shoulder level to to have been able to have hit Kai.

Tyson was still on bended knee looking at Kai intently, not completely listening to Ray. "You guys, I think we have more to worry about than Kai having concussion or killing me," Tyson said with a hint of fear in his voice.

Hearing Tyson's tone, the rest of the Bladebreakers looked at Tyson expectantly waiting for him to tell them what was wrong.

Tyson took a deep breath. "Kai's… Kai's fading," he said, turning to look up at his teammates.

He was met with skeptical looks.

"No, I mean it. He's starting to go see-through!" he protested.

"Tyson," Chief said slowly, "just because you hit Kai on the head with a beyblade, it doesn't mean that he will disappear mainly for that reason. You're overreacting." Chief held up his hands in a placating mannor, to try and calm Tyson down.

Tyson gazed at Chief with a strange look in his eyes before shaking his head. "I'm not," he said stubbornly. He opened his mouth to say more but was stopped when Kai started to glow softly. "What?" He spun around and leaned closer to Kai to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"What's wrong now?"

"Kai's glowing!"

"Yeah, right," came the sarcastic reply.

"Tyson, are you sure you didn't hit your head either?" Max asked worriedly. It was bad enough that one of their team was down, if Tyson was suffering from delusions…

He just glared at him. "Yes. I'm sure. You can't see it?"

They shook their heads.

"I still think you're overreacting. Kai isn't going to die just because you…" Chief's voice trailed off for the second time that day when the glowing started to get brighter and bigger, thus more noticeable.

The light kept on growing. It soon engulfed Kai's whole body and grew so bright that Tyson and the others had to cover their eyes with their arms to try shielding them. Still that wasn't enough; they also had to screw their eyes shut.

They could feel the warmth of the light beating on their arms and what parts of their faces that wasn't covered by their arms. Even with their eyes closed, the light was searing through their eyelids.

When they couldn't feel the warmth on their arms, they lowered their arms and opened their eyes. Blinking at the stars in the sight and the overbrightness of everything, they couldn't see anything for a few minutes. When they could finally see (though looking up at the sky still hurt, their eyes widened in surprise when they realised what they seeing.

Or what they weren't seeing.

Kai had disappeared from where he was lying before.

Ray, remembering the last time Kai had gone he had left Dranzer, turned towards the forgotten beydish. His eyes widened in shock even as a headache came from turning too sharply. _'But… that's impossible!'_

Dranzer, along with her blader, had vanished without a trace.

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_Well, what do you think?_

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	2. What Are You Talking About?

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

What Are You Talking About?

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Kai opened his eyes slowly. With a soft groan he focused on the sky above him, blinking as it seemed like stars were flashing in his eyes. When the signals finally got to his brain he suddenly didn't feel so confused. The colours around him were still a little on the bright side but at least they more bearable from what they were before.

He then looked at the clouds closely. He definitely remembered that the last time he saw the sky, it had been the variations of light blue while the clouds were billowly and high in the air. Now…now the sky looked to have streaks of red and the clouds seemed to be lower in the sky and had the tinge of pink and purple.

_'Have I been sleeping for over six hours? Ugh, what happened anyway?'_ He closed his eyes to try help him concentrate on recovering his memory. Kai was surprised to find that the river, instead of hindering his progress by distracting him, helped him to calm down and focus with its continuous gentle slap against the bank. He took a few deep breaths and tried to think about what he had done before waking up.

That was when he remembered what had happened. As the images flashed in his head Kai felt himself getting steadily angrier. _'So, after I get hit they decide to leave me,_' he thought with gritted teeth. '_What was it that Ray had said? "But we're still your friends. Yes, even Tyson." Well, if you really were my friends then why would you go off without trying to wake me up? If you _did _try and I didn't wake up then why didn't you take me to Tyson's house or the hospital?'_ Kai found himself wondering. He pushed himself off the ground and put himself into a sitting position while he looked around. His eyes narrowed as he did so. There was nothing there. The beydish was gone; not even the box that it was normally on top of was in sight. Studying the place even more, it looked like no one had even been there. At least for a while.

Tyson usually had some sort of chocolate bar or something along those lines with him. So because of this, generally, whenever Kai had gone to train with them there was always a wrapper discarded around somewhere. For some reason Tyson could never be bothered going up the slope to drop it in the bin that was there. Whether it was already flying on the wind or caught in the grass, there was always a wrapper somewhere. Why no one would bring the bin down was a mystery to him. Probably too much hastle for them. Or maybe they had and the bin was then replaced at the top so they stopped bothering. It looked like they had cleaned up after themselves completely; not one wrapper was to be seen.

Standing up, Kai rubbed the spot where he had been hit to check if he would need any medical help or anything of the sort. When his hand came away there was no blood on it and he didn't even feel any broken skin. There wasn't even a scratch where there should have been one. A beyblade was at its strongest right after it had been launched. There was nothing to explain why he hadn't been injured. It was physically impossible to heal that fast. So the only answer was that he hadn't been hurt in the first place. Either way, it didn't make sense.

While Kai had been musing the sky had been steadily getting darker, but for some reason the red streaks looked like they were growing in concentration.

Suddenly the wind picked up, reminding Kai that he should probably be going home. He made a mental note to do _something_ to Tyson the next time he saw him. Even though the others had done the same, Tyson and Kai never really got along. Yes, they were teammates but that still didn't stop the rivalry between them.

Deciding to walk back from where he came from, Kai stuffed his hands into his pockets. His eyes widened when he felt something there. It felt familiar. Pulling it out, Kai contemplated what was in his hand.

This clinched it. This proved that they really had left him. Why else would they have put Dranzer back into his pocket? They couldn't be bothered waiting for him to wake up so they packed up and left, and left Dranzer where he had found her. At least they hadn't just dropped her on the ground. For that, he would ease off the training that he would have given then when he found them...a little bit. Kai looked away from her and slowly placed her back in his pocket. He'd been travelling with his teammates for a year now and while they said and acted like they were fine with what Kai had nearly done, it looked like the truth was different. Kai hated to admit it but it stung. He'd have rather that they told him to his face rather than lie around him. Shaking his head, Kai started to walk.

Just as Kai was about to go under the bridge he thought he saw a shadow moving from atop of it from the corner of his eye. Stopping momentarily to see if he could make sense of what he thought he saw, nothing else moved. Not unless you counted what was being moved by the wind.

Shaking his head again, Kai assumed it must have some kind of dog or a trick of the light. He continued on his way. There was a soft echo around him as his trainers hit the tarmac and the sound rebounded on the walls that surrounded him.

When he stepped out of the shadows of the bridge, Kai was sure he saw the same shadow on top of the bridge again. As soon as he looked up to see if someone (or something) was there the shadow disappeared again. Even thought it did, Kai was pretty sure that he had seen a flash of yellow and red before it flashed out his sight.

Somebody was following him. Or about to. And from what Kai thought he saw, he had a good guess as to who it was. Tyson. So they leave him and Tyson stays to see what happens when he wakes up. Nice. Or maybe Tyson was starting to feel guilty and decided to see if the team leader had woken up yet. Whatever it was, Kai wasn't going to hang around to see if his theory was correct.

However, after taking five more steps, there was a small _'whumf'_ directly behind Kai. Getting frustrated at getting all the hints of him being followed but not being able to prove it, Kai whirled around to face whatever it was that had made the noise.

What Kai saw was a person crouching on their left knee with their back to him. The person was wearing a red cap the wrong way, with the rim covering his or her neck. His or her blackish blue hair was sticking out at angles from underneath it. From his point of view, Kai could see that the person was wearing blue fingerless gloves. On his or her back, the person wore a yellow long sleeved type shirt with a red sleeveless jacket over it. For trousers, the person wore black joggers.

As soon as Kai saw this person, he knew it couldn't have been Tyson. The Tyson he knew was usually doned with shorts and although they were wearing the same cap that was what seemed to be the only real similarity. What Kai found strange was that those two people seemed to have the same kind of dress sense. Even the person's hair was spiked in the same way, but it was slightly darker than what Tyson's hair was normally like. Kai was also sure that Tyson didn't have those clothes in his wardrobe.

With Kai still watching, the person stood up as if he or she wasn't hurt. Kai's eyes narrowed. This person was starting to be a bit too similar to Tyson. Now that he or she was standing, Kai could see that even though this person was thinner than Tyson, he or she was nearly exactly the same height as him. Maybe a bit taller. Heck, they even stood the same. That was when the person turned around slowly.

Kai's eyes, which had been currently narrowed, widened. Kai now knew that the person was male but he also recognised who it was. He was so sure that it could't have been, but it was. From the front it was obvious. Kai didn't understand how this was possible.

The person standing in front of him was Tyson.

But, it also wasn't Tyson. It couldn't have been. For one, there was no way the Tyson could have lost that much weight in only six hours. For another, unless he was wearing contact lenses (Kai had a strange feeling that he wasn't) Tyson's eyes had changed colour from dark blue to maroon. The person's eyes were also glaring at Kai.

Kai crossed his arms, his eyes back to being narrowed again. He didn't like it when people tried to intimidate him. "Well, look who decided to come back," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

The Tyson look-alike clenched his hands in anger. "Shut up Kai! What do you mean by that?" he shouted out, and pointed a finger at him. "It's you who came back! What do you think you can achieve by coming here? You've done enough damage already!"

While the person stopped for breath, Kai growled out, "Tyson, what are you talking about?" He'd done enough damage? If he was talking about the World Championships, why had they waited so long to do something rather than wait a week?

Kai saw the look-alike's eyes widen slightly. He looked momentarily stunned before he recovered and shot back, "Oh, so we're back on first name basis now, are we? I'm not 'boy' anymore, am I? Well how about it? Since you're calling me by my first name why don't I do the same, _Kai_?" The last part was stressed out.

At this, Kai snorted and gave the look-alike a twisted smile. "It's not as if you've called me anything else."

When the Tyson look-alike heard this he gave Kai a weird look. Like he didn't believe what he was hearing. "It's like you want to forget what happened in the past," he whispered softly.

"How about I repeat my question: what are you talking about?"

That was when the other boy started shouting again. It seemed that Kai had hit something by saying that. "What do you mean what do I mean? Look at you!"

Kai did. He was in his usual attire: he was wearing his long white scarf; underneath that was the sleeveless black shirt with gold studs lining where the sleeves would have been; adorned on his wrists were his wrist-guards with its typical three spikes; on his legs were his blue baggy cargo pants with the black belt; and what completed the outfit were his black and red trainers.

Tyson continued on, "You're in your old outfit, you're calling me Tyson, what are you trying to do? Get redemption? Are you trying to pretend that this never happened?" When he said this, Tyson indicated with an open palm the area around him. "If you are, then do this one thing and I'll know that you really want things to be over."

Kai was silent for a while as he thought over what Tyson might want him to do. Knowing him, it would probably have something to do with humiliating himself. He decided to agree; he could always refuse to do it when he found out what it was. He was far too used to Tyson's antics that he knew how to stop Tyson from complaining if or when he refused. Kai nodded.

Tyson seemed startled when he did. "What?" he whispered. "You'll do it? You'll actually…" he trailed off.

"I'll actually…?" Kai repeated. He noticed that Tyson seemed to be taking this seriously. Well, that was certainly a change. Now if he'd just do that with training.

Tyson shook his head. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Kai found himself getting more frustrated the more he talked to the look-alike. Why did he keep on saying things that he had no idea what was being said and assuming that he knew? Practically everything that he had said Kai didn't know why he'd said it.

Again, Kai shook his head. Before he could say why, Tyson's face hardened. "So, that's it. You just wanted the feel of your old outfit and came here to gloat and to pretend that you had amnesia."

"You didn't let me speak," Kai said coldly. "I was going to say that I didn't know what you were asking of me."

Tyson blinked in surprise. "You mean you _do_ have amnesia?"

"No," came the curt reply.

"Kai!" Tyson whined. "So you're saying that you don't know what I'm talking about but you haven't got amnesia?"

He nodded.

Suddenly, the look-alike snorted. "Riiight. Why don't I just get to the point then? Give me Black Dranzer."

Kai involuntarily took a step back. Give him Black Dranzer? Was this some kind of joke? Staring at the boy in front of him, Kai could tell that he was being serious. Kai scowled at him. "Tyson, you know that I can't do that." And he couldn't. Because when Kai had been defeated at that fateful day on Baikal Lake, as soon as his grandfather had been arrested, Kai had given Black Dranzer to Mr. Dickinson to put somewhere safe in the BBA building. He didn't ask where. He wanted to forget what had happened -what had nearly happened. He didn't want any reminders. Why would he want to know where it was anyway? He had Dranzer.

"Then why Kai? Why?" pleaded Tyson. "That's the point? You can't change the past, and you can't re-live it either." His head dropped. "I thought you had really changed. I'd dared to hope that you had. But I guess you haven't." He raised his head to look at him in the eyes. "You never will, will you?"

Kai gritted his teeth in annoyance. Yet again, Tyson wasn't making a shred of sense. "Tyson, you know exactly what I did to with Black Dranzer-" He didn't get to finish.

"Yeah! I know exactly what you did with Black Dranzer!" Tyson interrupted in vehemence.

Kai frowned upon hearing Tyson's response. "Then you'll remember me giving her to Mr. Dickinson. You were there, after all."

Tyson visibly paled and stared at him. "Mr. Dickinson?" he repeated. "You of all people should know that he's dead!"

It was Kai's turn to stare. Dead? How could he be dead? And what did he mean 'you of all people should know'? He'd been unconscious for the last six hours! And the last he heard, Mr. Dickinson was very much alive and well.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Kai snarled. "What do you mean that he's dead and I should know? I've been out cold for the last six hours!"

Even though he had never really shown it, he had cared for the elderly man. He had the aura of an affectionate uncle. He was the only adult (it seemed) that actually was concerned for his well being: he didn't try to mould him in any way; he didn't want him to be perfect, powerful; the only thing that he forced on him was to be the team leader of the Bladebreakers.

Although he had hated it at first, Kai had found himself starting to trust and like his teammates. In turn, they did the same. They were just faster than Kai.

"You've been unconscious?" Tyson scoffed. "Well it was very convenient for that to happen in this city wasn't it?" he continued sarcastically. "And what do you mean is this a joke? Everything stopped being a joke the second you joined the Demolition Boys! I can't believe you betrayed us like that! Were you thinking of them every time we trained together? Did you hate us that much? That at the soonest opportunity, you would leave us for another team? What were they like Kai? Were they really better than we were? Or was it because of you that they were able to become World Champions?" Tyson raged.

Kai wasn't really listening. He had started to filter out the rest of Tyson's words after he had mentioned training. Kai suddenly realised another thing that was strange. Tyson and Max, practically since the day they met, they were rarely seen without each other. He glanced around the general area. No one else was in sight. Tyson misinterpreted this.

"Ha! You're out of luck! Your goons aren't here to help you. I can't believe you came here by yourself. Well I, for one, am not going to pass up this opportunity. Now!"

Suddenly, without warning, Kai felt somebody grab his arms from behind and heard the click of handcuffs before he felt the cold steel against his skin. Kai knew that it was handcuffs before he felt them. He'd heard that click every time he thought of his grandfather when he was arrested. He didn't even try to struggle. It had to be a joke. Had to be. So Kai would find out who had did decided to do this to him. All that Kai could think while he was being lead to wherever-it-was was, _'Why me?'_

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Soooo, confused yet? I know the basic plot line, but I'm just letting my fingers do the writing so this could end up going somewhere completely different from what I first thought it would.

Thanks for the reviews!


	3. Warnings

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Warnings

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Tyson stared after his ex-captain as he was being led away. He felt proud that his act was good enough for Kai to be distracted fairly well enough to be caught but…it was what the Russian beyblader had said in return which disturbed him the most about the encounter.

It was almost as if he really_ did_ have amnesia. And the time period that he went back to was before the end of the World Championships. That couldn't be right. Because then how did Kai know about Black Dranzer? Kai had told them that he had forgotten all about her until they had visited Biovault and it was then that his memories started to come back. Unless he lied about that as well. The possibility of that wasn't exactly small.

It had to be an act; there were too many holes in the story. But Kai was too smart to make that many mistakes; it just wasn't like him. He had thought up some of the most brilliant plans in order to catch the rest of the Bladebreakers and they were only just able to get away. He might have been doing that on purpose though. Tyson felt that all they could really do was to take Kai into their headquarters. Again.

Tyson coudn't believe that they had done it last time. How could they have been so stupid? He guessed it was because they had trusted him too much; Kai had been their captain so why wouldn't they trust him? Maybe he would see the error of his ways if he got to talk to his previous teammates. Tyson snorted. Well it wasn't going to happen this time. This time they were going to put him into one of their smaller hideouts. That way, if -make that when- he escaped from there, the location he gave to Voltaire wouldn't be their main one. But surely they would know that it wouldn't happen again so why did they try it again? Maybe they should just stick him in a cage in the outskirts…Tyson rolled his eyes at the thought. Yeah right, like they would really do that. Not that they didn't want to, but they just weren't that kind of people. Of course, if the roles were reversed…

Taking off his cap, Tyson ran his fingers through his unruly hair. _'This way of thinking isn't going to get me anywhere.' _He watched the setting sun as it turned half the sky red before he heard someone walk up behind him. Even though it wasn't much, he could still feel the slight heat on his skin. Soon after, a hand was placed lightly on his shoulder.

"You okay?" asked a concerned voice.

He sighed before he answered. "Yeah. Just a little confused, that's all." And who wouldn't be from what had just been discussed a few minutes before?

"So am I. I heard what he was saying." The voice sounded tired, wary.

Turning around to face the other person, Tyson asked, "Ray, what do you think?"

The Chinese boy closed his eyes as he searched for an answer. Opening them again he said, "Honestly? I have no idea. My thoughts are the same as yours. That he actually does have amnesia but has somehow retained some of his mem…" he trailed off.

Tyson looked at his friend who suddenly had a thoughtful look in his eye. He raised an eyebrow in question as he waited for his friend's thoughts to come to a conclusion. "What?"

"His memories must have been screwed up or something," Ray muttered.

Frowning, Tyson looked closely at Ray. "Why do you think that?"

"Because, he said that he gave Black Dranzer to Mr. Dickinson," Ray said.

At this, the blue-haired blader barked out a short laugh. "So? It's obvious that he's lying."

"Hmm." Ray raised his eyes to the sky; darkness had nearly fallen. There were already some stars that could be seen against the darkening sky. "It doesn't explain why he's wearing his old outfit though."

Tyson shrugged. "You said it yourself, his memories have got to be screwed up." Who cared, really? It was still Kai and that was all that mattered.

Ray shook his head. "How though? And before you say anything about his supposed unconscious state, he definitely doesn't have a memory of any sort of him giving away Black Dranzer." Ray moved his head to look at Tyson. "If he had, we'd have known about it, wouldn't we? We would have been there. And he said that; at least, he said that _you_ were there to see it happen."

"Yeah, but what if he dreamed it?" Tyson argued. "Some dreams seem so real that we believe that they actually were when we wake up. Also, a few people can remember their dreams so that would be stored into his memories wouldn't it?"

Ray looked away again, this time to the ground. "I suppose you're right," he said quietly.

Tyson's eyes widened when he thought of another possibility. He glanced around and saw that the area around them was empty. That, of course, could be a lie. Something to lull them into a false sense of security.

"Tyson," Ray whispered, seeing his sudden change in stance, "what is it?" He started to peer at the shadows, trying to see if he could find what Tyson was looking for.

"Just something which neither of us had an idea about. What happens if that…Kai-" he shuddered inside saying his name out loud, "-isn't the real one? What if he's an impostor?"

Ray's face mirrored his friend's. "You've got a good point. That would be a good answer as to why he's acting differently and with the mixed up or non-existent memories."

Nodding in agreement, Tyson continued. "It would also explain the change in clothes and his change in…" his voice faded as he thought about what he was about to say. "Huh. That's weird, since when has he ever had maroon eyes like me?" How could he have missed that? Was he so distracted at the sight of _him_ that he didn't try to look any further than what he could see? All he saw was the outfit. The outfit that he'd worn when they were friends. The outfit that he'd worn when he left them. The outfit that he then got rid of (they'd thought) soon after that.

Ray just shrugged. "I guess it's just another mistake on the impostor's part."

"But maroon isn't exactly a common eye colour though is it?" Tyson pointed out, a frown on his lips.

Ray sighed. "So where are we taking him then?" he asked him, changing the subject.

Tyson smirked as he thought about where the Kai-impostor was being 'escorted' to. "If he doesn't know anything about this place, then it's obvious that he isn't the real Kai." A shrug. "And if it _is_ the real Kai, even better. C'mon, let's go," he muttered before turning to go, the wind suddenly picking up.

:-:-:

Before taking Kai anywhere, the person who put the handcuffs on Kai (he assumed so anyway) tied a blindfold around his head. Which was just great. He had no idea what was happening and now he didn't know where he was going. The blindfold wasn't tied on tight but it definitely wasn't loose either. In the darkness, his only guide was the instructions of where to go from the person behind him. At least this person told him when there were steps in front of him or if he was about to step on something that would trip him up. If it had been someone who had been at the World Chapionships and didn't know what happened afterwards...Although, whenever this person directed Kai around an obstacle, there was something in his voice that he couldn't quite place. Kai felt like he knew the person but maybe he had forgotten him.

Heh. Forgotten. Maybe he _had_ forgotten because, does a person who's suffering from amnesia know that they are?

While they were walking, Kai tried (and failed) to think of where they could be going. He couldn't tell though because of the blindfold, obviously, and that was the point, wasn't it? But judging from how long they had been walking for, and the direction, it seemed like they were heading towards the warehouses.

"Nearly there," the other person said softly.

Telling him or to comfort himself Kai wasn't sure.

"I was just wondering," the other person started conversationally, "Why are you letting us catch you?"

Kai moved his wrists slightly, making a small clinking sound. "Because, the sooner I can see whoever thought up this joke the sooner I can kill him or her," he ground out. His best bet was Tyson; he was the only one out of his teammates that would try this on him.

"Is that what you think this organisation is? A joke?" the other person snapped, the happy note gone from his voice. Wait…happy note?

Letting out a growl, Kai mentally groaned. Not this again. "You heard me. What kind of organisation is this? To make jokes?"

He heard a faint rustle behind him; Kai guessed that it was the other person shaking his head. "No. Make fun of it all you want, we all know that it's the only thing stopping you and your grandfather from completely taking over the world."

Kai stopped dead in his tracks. He heard whoever it was behind him nearly crash into him. "My grandfather?" he hissed. "What do you mean my grandfather? He's in jail." He couldn't have escaped. Mr. Dickinson would have contacted him. It would have been all over the news. The person who had trained young boys to beyblade to take over the world, no one would want him out again. Especially if he attempted to do it all over again.

"In jail?" Kai's captor scoffed. "He stayed out of jail because you and the Demolition Boys told the police that what we were saying was all lies and that Biovault wasn't a training facility; just a place where orphans could stay."

Frowning to himself, Kai thought about what his captor was saying while he walked. From what he gathered from 'Tyson', this joke seemed take place in the future and had something to do with Black Dranzer. And this person said 'we', not the Bladebreakers. Since it definitely couldn't be Tyson or Kai there could only be two other people. Before they had broached the subject of Biovault the person's voice had had a happy note in it. And there was only one being who Kai knew that could sound that perky.

"Max?"

A small gasp. "H-how did you know?" he stuttered.

Kai would have crossed his arms if he could have; it was a reflex action. "The things which you said. You said we instead of the Bladebreakers. Also, I know for a fact that Ray doesn't sound as happy as you do. He's the most serious out of the three of you."

"The three of us? So you don't consider yourself one of us then?" Max said quietly. Sadly? Kai couldn't identify what else was in his voice.

Kai considered telling Max that he couldn't really add himself into the equation but discarded the idea. "What's with all the questions?"

"I'm making conversation." He was suddenly given a gentle but firm shove forward. "We should start walking again."

:-:-:

The sky was starting to get really dark; the stars were shining more brightly. This was fine with Tyson; it had been some time since he had the chance to look at them. It had been quite a while since he had spare time to do nothing.

Of course, what they were doing right now wasn't really doing nothing as they were actually going somewhere. As he and Ray were walking towards the warehouses they kept the conversations to a minimum. It was mainly because of two things: one was that if the Kai that they had caught was a fake, there could be people tracking them so they needed to be quiet to make sure that they could hear any warning signs; the other was that they wanted to just mull over their thoughts over what had happened during the course of the day.

It was so weird. First of all, the computers had started to shut down by themselves -even while people were still working on them. Which was bad enough, but to add more problems onto Judy's plate, if she hadn't checked as closely as she did to the systems after the computers had been brought back to life, they would have ended up with losing at least half of the main computer's memory. That meant they could have lost the blueprints of the Abbey, the new upgrades which Black Dranzer had gotten (not that she needed it or anything but sometimes the 'upgrades' were new bitbeasts that had been made or defeated) among other things.

And then the surveillance cameras that had been set up around the town went offline. This was after the computers had been fixed. So everything else was running smoothly when the security screens simultaneously showed static. Everyone had thought it was a glitch in the system when they first appeared. When it didn't go away they decided to call Judy. This time, she couldn't find what was wrong. This went on for two hours. By then they were getting nervous what was going to happen if the cameras couldn't get repaired. Judy had told Tyson that everything was fine inside the cameras and outside. The same was with the receiving equipment. It was just that nothing was happening. So basically everything was in perfect running order but the cameras just weren't running. They were the only things that helped them with the outside world; it was what they used for their eyes.

Of course, they still had their spies but if one of their hideouts were about to be discovered they wouldn't know until they were inside the building 'arresting' everybody. Tyson had never realised how much they needed them, how much they depended on them until they couldn't use them anymore. Then, all of a sudden, they came back online. No one had done anything; it just happened. The engineers were actually on their lunch break and when they come back, everything was how it was before the cameras had shut down. Because of those two incidents, Judy was becoming uneasy that there could be a virus in the hard drive. It was either that or somebody was hacking into the main computer. Neither option was liked.

After that, it was quiet. Unfortunately, it only lasted for only a few hours. Then it was the training area's turn. Sadly, this time the simulations didn't just stop or shut down -they exploded. There wasn't a warning either. People were practicing their beyblading skills inside the room when the simulation literally blew up in their faces. Because of this, three boys and a girl where in hospital beds with severe burns covering their body and it looked like they were going to be in a coma for at least a week. Tyson shook his head at the memory. They were all new to this as well and what happens? Yet again, no one could find out what had caused this. Everyone was now denied access to the training area apart from the engineers who were still confused by what had happened.

And finally, the last thing that had occurred that day (before the appearance of Kai) was the freaky weather. It started around about two in the afternoon. It had been forecasted that it would be sunny with a fair bit of cloud cover and a light breeze. Pfft, yeah right. What they got instead was true until two in the afternoon, and then it all changed. Abruptly, the white clouds all bunched together and started to darken. It didn't take long for the wind to pick up. By this time the sun had been completely blocked out by the clouds. It had taken all but ten minutes and it looked like a true storm was about to break.

And break it did.

Without warning (by sound means anyway) the heavens opened and the rain poured down. It slammed and thudded against the windows. It was so loud that it was hard to have a normal conversation with the person sitting beside you because you had to half shout to make yourself heard. The rain carried on with its onslaught on the windows, creating continuous little streams of water on the steamed up windows. The rising wind added to the racket outside. It shook the windows and pushed the rain harder. It howled past, trying to get in through cracks and holes in the walls. Then, just as soon as it started, it stopped. The rain and wind let up and the clouds dispersed. I was surprised that there wasn't any thunder or lightning.

It took a whole three hours for the streets to dry up. And that was with the sun being at around about thirty to thirty-five degrees centigrade. Even then, there were still some pools of water stubbornly staying there on the pavement. It was after that that Kai was spotted just lying there, on the ground beside the river. Judy and the Bladebreakers didn't believe that it was him at first. It was because he was wearing his old outfit and the fact that he was right there, in their town, with no one else no less.

What convinced them that it was him was his two-toned hair. They had guessed that it was him being cocky, which in turn convinced them that the 'accidents' that had been happening throughout the course of the day hadn't been accidents. Why else would he go there? He knew that this place had cameras everywhere. So the reason why he was there was because he knew that the cameras couldn't be working. But what was done to try and disable them became a warning of what might be happening. Apart from the strange weather; there was no way that they ccould control the weather.

So now, they (hopefully) had Kai, Tyson thought happily as he walked down the dimly lit road. If they could somehow get Kai to give them Black Dranzer (which was highly doubtful) then life would be just peachy. Tyson then frowned as he remembered something that Kai had said to him. He could be lying, but if he wasn't? Did he truly believe that he no longer had Black Dranzer? Or was he just playing with them, like he had been all those other times?

* * *

_And that's me finished. Sorry for the long wait, but I was in Spain (which was soo cool…apart from the thirty hour COACH journey there!) for a week. But now I've finished with my school year, I now have considerably more time to write my fics!_

_Hmm, does Tyson seem a bit too brainy? I think I accidentally put in a put too many long words in his head. Oh well, I can always tweak it a bit later if you guys want me to._

_Did I confuse you guys a bit more or did I clear it up for you? Well, I couldn't have cleared all of it though._

_If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things. And I have._


	4. The Warehouse

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

The Warehouse

* * *

Kai was now officially lost. He had no idea where he was. Max had stopped trying to make 'conversation' when they had started moving again. They could have been going in the opposite direction from what he first thought they were going for all he knew. They had gone around enough corners by then.

That was when he felt Max grab his arm and pulled him back slightly to make him stop moving. A simple 'Stop' would have sufficed, Kai thought in annoyance. He then felt the blindfold being taken off him. Kai had to blink and shake his head; the colours seemed to be brighter than normal, so much so that it made him feel a little dizzy. This was at night as well, he wondered what would have happened if this happened during the daytime.

After his eyes had adjusted Kai looked at the area around him. So he had been right the first time. They were at his original hideout. So they went from the first place that he had first met Tyson to the place where he had met Tyson for a second time. But studying the building more closely, Kai saw that the warehouse had seen better days. Kai took it for granted that it was because he hadn't been there for a while but he thought that the rest of the Bladesharks would have kept it in better shape. Maybe they had split after the Bladebreakers captain had left them.

Kai turned around Max to ask him a question but ended up staring at him. Like Tyson, Max had changed his wardrobe. He was now wearing a blue t-shirt with a big yellow star on the left-hand side and smaller stars on the right. He had also ditched the orange dungarees that he usually wore; now he was wearing grey shorts. It seemed to Kai that Max had also dyed his hair. Instead of of him being blond, Max's hair was shorter and his hair now had more copper in it than when Kai had seen him last.

Max saw him staring, "What?" he asked the ex-captain.

Kai groaned inwardly. "I can't believe you guys are going so far to actually dye your hair," he muttered.

Looking puzzled at Kai's mutterings, Max said, "Kai, are you feeling alright? What are you talking about?"

Kai suddenly had a really big urge to start banging his head on the wall. Repeatedly. It was usually Tyson who gave him the headache. Why did he have to start rubbing off on Max?

Kai narrowed his eyes at the blond boy in front of him (although it might have been because his eyes still needed more time to adjust). "What I mean is, how far are you going to go on with this joke? I don't know how I ended up being unconscious for the last six hours but-" Before he could continue he was interrupted.

"You were unconscious? How?" Max asked in confusion.

Kai stifled a growl that was threatening to rise out of his throat. "I've had it up to here-" Kai tried to move his hands but was forcefully reminded that he had handcuffs on, "with this joke, like you don't remember anything. You were there, Max; me and Tyson were going to have a beybattle when the idiot misfired and Dragoon, instead of hitting the beydish, hit my head. What did Tyson tell you to do? Pretend that it never happened? So then I would think that I dreamed it up?"

Max was looking worriedly at Kai. "Kai, what you just said is true: it didn't happen. Everything you've just described, this is the first time I've heard of it. And if you were hit on the head by a beyblade how come you don't have a mark or even a scratch on your forehead? Maybe it was a dream…when we were still friends," he finished quietly, turning his head away.

Kai sighed and muttered, "I'm starting to get a headache." Or maybe he already did and he'd just ignored it until then. It didn't really matter either way.

It was then that the doors of the warehouse swung open with a bang. What came running out was a girl around about Tyson's age who was wearing a pink top and a skirt. Her hair was dark brown and was in a style that was almost identical to Max's old one.

"Max! What h-" When she saw who she was about to run into, she stopped dead in her tracks and gaped at Kai. It would seem that Kai had inadvertently found a blind spot in the positioning of the security cameras. While the cameras could see Max clearly, since Kai was in front of the blond boy, the two cameras beside the door created a little window where they couldn't see what was happening. They were positioned to see into the distance; not close up.

The girl turned towards Max. "You caught him?" It was hard to not notice the glee that her voice held. Kai had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Well of course they caught him! Why else would he be standing there with handcuffs on his wrists? Picking daisies? And the girl was talking like he wasn't there, or like he couldn't understand what they were saying.

Max nodded. The girl then ran up to him (still ignoring Kai) and gave him a fierce hug.

"We did it! We finally caught Kai!" she cheered happily.

"I wouldn't count on it," a voice stopped her from continuing further.

Looking over Max's and the girl's shoulder, Kai saw Tyson walking up behind them. There was someone else walking with him as well. As soon as he saw him, Kai recognised him immediately. The difference wasn't as radical as the others, but it was still different none the less.

The similarities were that he wore the same white suit (though the strap buttons were now black), the bandanna with the Yin-Yang on it, the black slip-ons (even though they looked a bit lighter than usual) and the bound ponytail swinging behind him.

Yup, it was Ray alright.

The hair was the same…sort of. It was in the same style as Kai had last seen it but now it wasn't as unruly as before, it looked like it had been gelled or something. Kai also thought that Ray's ponytail looked longer than usual. Ray was also wearing black fingerless gloves that held the Yin-Yang sign on them on the back. He no longer sported the white straps on his arms either. Black baggy trousers had replaced his regular blue ones. And for some reason he had a scarf hanging from his belt.

Looking more closely at his face, Kai saw that once again Ray had put in contact lenses, the same as Tyson. Instead of the usual golden orbs staring back, they were now dark brown.

While staring at his face, Kai saw him raise an eyebrow. "What?" he asked.

He didn't know how, but Kai somehow knew that Tyson was giving him weird looks. "Oh, don't mind him. He did the same to me when he first saw me," Tyson remarked.

Max nodded. "Same here."

Again, Kai felt like he was being purposely ignored.

"Well, c'mon. Let's go inside before it gets any colder," the girl suggested. The boys nodded. Max touched Kai's arm lightly, to indicate that he was to turn around.

"Wait." It was the girl. "Do you think he should be going in there without the blindfold?" she asked.

_'I know exactly where we are and what's inside. What's the point of all this? Why did they bring me here if they know that I know where this is? The warehouse is basically one big room, or are they just acting like it's bigger than usual?'_ Kai mused. _'Well, they've changed their appearance, so I guess this is part of the joke as well. And since Mr. Dickinson is "dead" it's probably going to be him who set this up. So that I can get better at teamwork or something.'_

"What do you think?" Ray asked Kai, taking him out of his musings.

Kai suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu. Laughing softly at the memory, he replied, "You're asking my opinion?"

Ray gave him a weird look. "And what's so funny?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

Still smiling gently, Kai said, "What's the point in telling you? If I say it, you will just deny like the rest of your teammates have. Also, I see no point in putting on the blindfold again because I know where we are, and what's inside."

"Really?" Max said, feigning curiosity. "Then what's inside?"

"It's basically one large room with a catwalk on the walls which makes the second level." Kai explained. "Unless there is an underground part as well," he added as an afterthought.

When Kai looked at the faces of the people around him, he saw that they expressed shock. So his guess had hit the mark then.

"Are you telling me that there's a spy?" Tyson whispered slowly.

Ignoring the question Kai remarked, "So I was right? There _is_ an underground part to it?"

"Who is it? Who's the spy?" demanded Tyson.

Kai gazed up to the sky, deep in thought. "I guess the entrance would be underneath the catwalk at the back wall," he mused, mostly to himself.

Tyson looked ready to explode. "Are you even listening to us?"

Kai ignored him. "The complex would be pretty big," he muttered, "There's no cables, sewers or anything like that beneath the warehouse."

"God Kai! You are _so_ annoying!"

Upon hearing this remark, Kai looked down to stare to Tyson. He was smirking. "Of course I am. I learned from the best didn't I?" His stare didn't waver.

It took Tyson thirty seconds to get what Kai was implying. "What? Are you saying that I'm annoying?" he yelled.

Kai's smirk widened. "You said it. I'm surprised that you were able to get it that quickly."

It seemed that whatever happened, be it in normal life, or amidst being in the middle of a joke, Kai and Tyson would always end up arguing.

With his hands clenched by his sides, Tyson marched past the group and through the open doors.

After looking at each other, they took his cue and followed him into the building. The girl went in first, then Kai, Max was behind him and bringing up the tail end was Ray.

Glancing at the room he was in, Kai could see that it was nearly exactly the same as the last time he had been in there. There was a few more cobwebs in the dusty corners and the beydish had been taken away.

Tyson wasn't in sight but there was a soft whirring noise in the air and the catwalk was vibrating.

Kai then noticed that there was a door at the back when before, there was none before. He frowned at this. The door looked pretty worn, not something that had only been there for a couple of hours. But Kai shrugged it off to the fact that it had to have been painted on. The door didn't have a handle either, adding to the strangeness even though it looked non-descript.

By the time they had crossed the room the whirring had stopped. The girl then pressed something on the wall beside the door.

What was bothering Kai at that moment wasn't what he was going to say to Mr. Dickinson, it wasn't where his teammates had gotten their makeovers or where they got the money for it -Kai had a sneaking suspicion that it must have come from Mr. Dickinson, maybe even Max's mum. It was what the name of the girl was. It wasn't because he liked her or anything; it was because he was curious as to where she came from. And also what they said to her to get her to play along with what they were doing. Was she a stranger that they picked off the streets? Or was she a cousin or a friend that was staying over? Not that her name would give him any clues, but Kai would rather call her by her proper name than 'The Girl'.

While they were waiting for the door to open and the whirring to stop (it had started up again when the girl had pressed the button) Kai turned to the girl and asked, "What's your name?"

She looked startled when he asked. Then a puzzled frown appeared on her face. "Don't you know?"

Kai shook his head.

He saw her eyes briefly flicker towards Max and Ray. "Are you sure? Because I'm sure that we've been introduced to each before."

The door opened but it went unnoticed.

"I'm positive," Kai said while nodding. "I think I would remember meeting you before."

Kai turned to the door, which meant he missed the blush on the girl's cheeks.

As they were walking into the lift, Kai said, "You still haven't answered my question. What's your name?"

"It's Hilary."

Again Kai nodded, to show that he was listening. There was a slight shudder as the lift began to move. Since Kai had been talking to Hilary he hadn't noticed where he was going. Now Kai was starting to get confused. There was no way that anyone would be able to install a lift in six hours, let alone where the lift would lead. Heck, it would probably take at least six hours to dig the hole for the lift.

There was a _'ping'_ as the lift stopped and the door slid open.

Without another word, Hilary started to walk off and Kai and the others trailed after her without question.

Slyly scrutinising the area around them as they walked, Kai came to two conclusions: either kids ran this or there was very few people there; and that it was indeed a complex, there was so many routes that could be taken to get to another place.

When they stopped, Kai didn't know where they were. They had taken so many twists and turns that he barely remembered the last two corner turns, let alone the rest of them! They could have gone in a circle and he wouldn't have known.

Ray opened the door for Kai, letting him inside the room first. The room was what you saw in prison movies. It was a box room with a single camp bed pushed into the corner; dark green was the colour of the duvet. The walls were grey and bare. There was a single light hanging from the ceiling.

Maybe the prison room would be better.

At least you could look out of your door whenever you wanted. You would also get a window in a prison cell. If you did that here, you'd end up getting a room full of dirt. And there was the thing about the toilet. Thank goodness he wasn't going to be staying there for long, only until he had seen Mr. Dickinson.

They must have been planning this for a long time if they had such a big area to walk around in.

_'It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic. This is going to be fun,'_ Kai thought sarcastically as he heard the door shut behind him.

* * *

And that's me finished for now. I don't have that much to say apart from that I just watched Spiderman 2 yesterday! The trailers give it no justice as to how good it is! Oh yeah, does anyone know what the white strap thingies that Ray used to wear in the first season are properly called? I didn't want to call them bandages…

That's me finished for now. I actually have the next couple of chapters planned in my head. I just have to put it into kilobytes.

If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things. And I have.


	5. Who is He?

Sorry for the long update, but I had actually finished this chapter a looong_ time ago, it was just that I felt that it was only half finished so I kept on going. Which is why I now have two chapters instead of one! _

A lot of people are confused right? Well, hopefully this chapter can sort things out a little bit.

Now enjoy!

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Who is He?

* * *

Ray watched as Tyson continued to pace up and down the room. He acted like he didn't realise or notice that there were other people in the room with him. In the room there was a sofa, two chairs and a desk. The only objects on the desk were a closed laptop and a speaker that was connected to the desk. Tyson was already pacing the room when the others had entered. It looked like he had probably been doing that since he first walked into the room. 

"Where is she? What's taking her so long?" Tyson muttered to himself.

"Chill out Tyson," Max said with a laugh. Tyson's head whipped up in surprise. "It's only been five minutes." Max plopped himself onto one of the chairs, an amused smile on his face.

With a sigh, Tyson sat on one end of the sofa that was in the room while Ray sat down on the other end. Hilary was sitting on another chair parallel to the sofa. There were only two spaces left in the room to sit: the space between Tyson and Ray and the chair behind the desk.

Tyson intertwined his fingers and placed them behind his head before saying, "I know, I know. It's just that I want to figure this out _now_." He sighed.

"Yeah," was the unanimous reply. They nodded in agreement. The room fell into silence.

Then the door behind Max slid open to reveal his mum. "How is everybody?" she asked before walking in and sliding into her seat behind the desk. She opened the laptop and started to type. Ray knew that she wasn't ignoring them; she just had so much work to do that she had to do it everywhere. She'd learned how to do concentrate on her work while holding a conversation a long time ago. She had to.

"We're okay," Hilary said, speaking for everyone.

Judy nodded. "That's good. I'm surprised that you didn't come out of that encounter with any bruises or anything like that," she commented with relief.

The younger generation exchanged looks with each other.

Noting this silence, she looked up and studied each of them in turn. They were more relaxed than they had been for some time, but they were also troubled about something. They seemed a little bit on edge. This was expected as they had just faced Kai but their disturbance didn't seem to be pointing in that direction. "Why don't you seem happy about this?"

"We _are_ happy," replied Ray, "but Tyson and I think that this guy is an impostor." He started to fidget with his bound hair.

"An impostor?" Judy repeated, a frown starting to appear on her face. Her typing slowed down as she thought the possiblilty over.

Max nodded. "Yeah mom. Have you seen what he's wearing?"

She shook her head. "I was experimenting with something while you were away." They were about to make a breakthrough in what they were researching. She hoped so anyway, it would help to turn the tide in the war – they were currently losing at the moment.

"He's wearing what he used to wear when he was part of our team," Tyson spat, interrupting her thoughts. "And he flat out denies having Black Dranzer." He clearly wasn't happy about this, showing it in his posture of his crossed arms and set jaw.

"Well, it's true," Judy confirmed, nodding slightly.

"What!" the teengers cried out. They'd gone through all that trouble and he wasn't even the right one?

Judy continued to explain her answer. "If he had come here with Black Dranzer there would have been an alarm. Black Dranzer gives off a unique kind of energy, something that our cameras are specially made to detect. If they had detected it you would have known. For one thing, the lift wouldn't open for you and you would have been surrounded by people with guns."

"Is that why the lift takes so long to come up? Because there's a camera there making sure that Black Dranzer doesn't get in?" Max wondered. They had always thought that it was just because it was slow. Not that they'd ever asked. Were there any other safety precautions that were there that they didn't know about?

Judy nodded. "That's exactly it. And I suppose that the way that Kai is acting now, is like how he used to be?" she asked, changing the subject back to its original course.

It was quiet for a moment as they thought it over. If they ignored everything that he had said, then maybe he could have been mistaken for what he used to be in the past. But if they didn't, and they paid attention to only what he had said, everyone would think that the boy was insane, or that Kai was his idol and he had gotten a lot of his facts wrong. But that was an entire contraction on itself.

"I think he _is_ acting like what he used to be," Ray murmured.

Tyson turned to look at his friend, disbelief written clearly on his face. "What? I don't think so. Apart from his appearance he isn't anything like what he used to be."

"So you're telling me that you and Kai never used to argue like that?" Hilary asked innocently. "I thought you two bickered constantly? That's what I heard anyway." Ray remembered her giggling sometimes when she'd heard some of the things that the two had argued over.

"Er…Yeah, but…" Tyson said weakly.

Max looked thoughtful, a finger tapping the corner of his mouth. "You know, even the way that Kai argued today was different. Normally, they would have traded insults. Not, em, I don't know how to explain what Kai did." He shrugged helplessly at his inability to explain properly what he was thinking.

"So you all agree that you think this person is an impostor?" Judy asked them all, looking at the each in turn.

They nodded. "Well, if he's willing to give us some DNA then we'll know for sure if he is or isn't," Judy said.

"Mom, don't do it," Max said suddenly.

Judy had already gotten up from her seat and was about to walk out the door when she stopped. She turned to look at her son. "What's wrong Max? All I'll be doing is collecting DNA. It's not dangerous."

"I know but he said, and I quote 'Because, the sooner I can see whoever thought up this joke the sooner I can kill him or her'," he said quickly.

There was a collective gasp as the people in the room heard this.

"Well it's a good thing that he doesn't know that it's me then," she said briskly. " He said him or her. He doesn't know." Her eyes softened at the worried faces around her. "You should get some sleep," she said gently. With that said, she left the room.

In the silence, Tyson muttered, "That remark sounded exactly like Kai. Just, you know, without the manic laughter."

:-:-:

Kai looked up when he heard the door unlock. The person who walked in was Max's mom, Judy Tate. Thankfully, in her appearance she looked practically exactly the same from when he had last seen her. She looked better with her hair down, he thought. Maybe she didn't want to go through _that_ much trouble for this. In her hand, she held a small cylindrical container and her hands were gloved.

He narrowed his eyes at the sight of the objects. He didn't want to know what was inside of it nor did he want to know if he was supposed to put something in it. Yes, he was curious, but still…Considering what had been happening so far that day, Kai didn't really want to take any chances.

Judy saw where he was staring. "Don't worry, it won't hurt," she reassured him as she walked up to him.

"What is it?" he asked suspiciously, his eyes still narrowed at the objects.

In answer to his question, Judy popped the lid of the container. Inside was a cotton swab.

Kai cocked his head to the left, eyebrows raised in surprise. He looked up to look Judy in the face. "You're going to clean my ears?" he deadpanned.

Judy couldn't help but smile. "No, this isn't for that. Not right now anyway. It's for getting DNA." She paused. "Could you open your mouth please?"

Kai regarded her for a moment. She said it wasn't going to hurt and she had never lied yet. And how much damage can you do with a cotton swab? Okay, he could end up deaf, but then why would his mouth have to be open? You couldn't choke on a cotton swab…could you? And she was Max's mum. Even though she was coaching a rival team, she wouldn't stoop so low to sabotage.

"Fine," he muttered before complying.

Judy stared in shock. That was too easy. She'd figured that she would have use force since he was an impostor. She had seen the physical differences as soon as she had walked into the room._ 'Is he supposed to distract us from something bigger?'_ she thought. _'Was all that had happened today a test? If that's true, then why isn't he doing something?'_ Yelling, kicking, making a fuss. That was what had happened last time.

But last time, they had the real Kai.

Seeing as Kai was sitting on the bed and Judy was standing, she would either have to kneel in front of him or sit next to him to collect his cheek cells. She chose the latter. That way, it would be harder for him to kick her if he tried to.

She placed the swab on the inside of Kai's cheek and rolled it up and down. After she had done that she put the swab back into the container and clicked the lid back on. Later, when Judy had left Kai in his room, the cotton swab would be tested to find out who he really was, as long as they had a record of him though.

"What are you going to do with that?" Kai asked as Judy stood up.

"We're going to check you DNA," replied Judy.

Kai frowned at this information. "Why? As far as I know, I'm healthy."

Remembering what Ray had said, and since Kai seemed to trust her, Judy came to the conclusion that the impostor must have somehow gotten the past and present mixed up. How somebody could make such an obvious mistake was beyond her, but here was the evidence, right in front of her. Or did the imposter not know her and just thought her as a nurse?

"It's just in case," Judy said vaguely.

Kai didn't answer back. Well, that was rather understandable, he supposed. And who knew what Tyson had planned for him.

They sat in silence for a while until,

"Kai?" He turned his face to look at her. "Do you have your beyblade with you?" Judy had purposely left out the name of the bitbeast that she expected to see.

"I'd show you but my hands are tied, " Kai said sarcastically. He shook his wrists for extra effect.

"Which pocket is she in?" Judy asked, getting close to him.

"She's in my trouser pocket -the one closest to you," Kai said, pointing at it with his chin.

Judy used her free hand to search in his pocket. When she felt her fingers brush against metal she grasped it. What she pulled out was Dranzer.

Her eyes widened in surprise. There was no way that this could be the real Kai. The Kai that she knew would never go anywhere without Black Dranzer. She had assumed that Kai had found a way to block the signals that Black Dranzer threw out because normally, electronics would go a little off when she was near them. And how did he get Dranzer back?

Judy then gasped in surprise as the hand that held Dranzer suddenly rose in temperature. Hearing her gasp, Kai looked down to her hand.

Dranzer was glowing.

"W-why is she doing that?" Judy asked, startled.

Still staring at his beyblade, Kai muttered quietly, "Maybe it's because she feels cheated out of battling Dragoon…"

Judy stared at him in bewilderment. What did he mean by that? Before she could ask him, the door to the room opened quietly. Glancing up she saw it was one of her co-workers, more precisely, the person who she was supposed to give the sample -the one which was still in her hand- to as soon as she had left Kai.

"Mrs. Tate?" he said politely. "I was told that you would be here. You have an appointment right now." He waited at the threshold of the room.

Knowing that that meant that she was to go straight away, Judy stood up, momentarily forgetting what she was going to say. As she was about to walk out of the cell, Kai called out her name.

"Yes?" she asked, turning around to look at him questionally.

"My beyblade?" he reminded her.

Judy blinked, uncomprehending at first until she remembered that she still held Dranzer. Glancing at her again showed that she had stopped glowing. She didn't even feel warm; just cold metal. Just like a beyblade normally felt like.

"Do you want me to put her back into your pocket?"

He nodded.

When she had done that, she left without looking back at him.

:-:-:

"What were you doing there for so long?" Ben demanded angrily as they walked down the corridor. There was no one else there and the only sound was their shoes on the tiled floor.

Judy gazed at him evenly until he calmed down slightly. "We were talking."

"Why?" he spat. "He's a cold-blooded murderer!"

"You don't think I don't know that?" Judy said, her eyes narrowed.

Ben ignored the little warning sign and ploughed on. "How could you have a proper conversation with him? All he does is laugh," he said with disdain.

"He didn't do that while I was there," Judy said calmly.

"So he doesn't laugh then," he grumbled. "It's still him. You shouldn't trust him."

"Who said I trusted him?" Judy said defensively.

Ben stared at her in disbelief. "Why else would you talk to him and _continue _to talk after finishing what you had gone there to do?" His voice held an accusatory tone.

"Are you questioning my actions?" she demanded.

"No, I'm not," he said quickly, looking away.

"Here's the sample you needed." Judy passed the container to him.

"You know he's doing this so that you drop your defences," Ben commented.

"If he was, then why doesn't he have Black Dranzer with him then?" she shot back.

It looked like Ben was finally quiet. "He…he doesn't have Black Dranzer with him?" he repeated, shocked. "But he never-"

"Leaves without her." Judy finished for him. " I know. I want to find out who this person is. It obviously isn't Kai so if you could…?"

He snapped out of his bewilderment to nod to her. "Of course. I'll get this done as soon as I can. You should get the results in the morning." Saying this, Ben walked off.

Left alone in the corridor Judy murmured to no one, "I guess I'll go to bed."

:-:-:

In the morning, Tyson could be seen stuffing his face with a bacon sandwich in the cafeteria. "I wonder," he began before taking a bite, chewing once and swallowing, "I wonder who that guy is?"

Hilary was openly showing disgust. "Tyson, how can you do that?"

"What? I'm chewing like you told me to!"

Ray rolled his eyes and Max started to laugh. They had seen the two of them so often in the mornings it was becoming routine. Like how they had to _literally _drag Tyson out of bed to get him to the food court. Ray usually had the right foot and Max had the left foot with Hilary walking in front of them. He usually didn't wake up until they were halfway there; it might have had something to do with the smells that was coming from breakfast. If they weren't so strong, there was a chance that Tyson would never wake up.

"If you guys are done, are we going to go now?" Ray asked when it looked like Tyson had finished.

He nodded. Just before they were about to exit the room, Tyson ran back to get another sandwich. He could see Hilary getting annoyed.

"What? I'm hungry!" he protested.

:-:-:

In Judy's office, they were sitting in the same places that they were in last time. Judy had told them that the results would be brought in a little bit later so that's what they were doing: waiting. Tyson was finishing off his sandwich while the others around him talked quietly to each other.

All their heads turned when they heard the door slide open. It was Ben who walked in. He seemed agitated for some reason. He marched straight to Judy and handed her a thin folder. He didn't acknowledge the other people in the room. But they were kinda used to that already.

As soon as he had done that, he began to walk out again.

"Wait."

He stopped walking to Judy's quiet order.

Judy asked worriedly, "Ben, is there something wrong?"

He still hadn't turned around. "After what you said to me last night, what you're about to find out is going to come as a shock. And before you call me back when you find out, I'll answer your questions before you ask them.

"No one knew that I had the sample so they couldn't have tampered with it. I've double and triple checked; the resultis always the same. And I made sure that the sample wasn't contaminated. I have no idea how it's him, but the physical evidence proves that it's him, even though…" he trailed off. After he had said that, he walked out of the room without waiting for a response.

"What's up with him?" Tyson wondered out loud.

Ray guessed, "Do you think it's someone we know?"

Max shrugged at the question. "Could be. But then why is he acting weird then?"

"And why is he wearing Kai's old clothes?" Hilary added.

"And where did he get them?"

Judy sighed as she listened (or tried to) to the noise that the four teenagers were making. It was steadily getting louder as each of them were trying to make themselves heard. As they went on, the questions and answers were becoming more and more outrageous. Soon, the racket could be heard beyond the closed doors.

"Okay that's enough!" Judy yelled over the din.

They stopped shouting and looked at her.

"Thank you," she said patiently. "How about instead of second guessing, we see what he actually found out?"

They nodded in agreement.

She opened the folder and skimmed straight to the name of the person, if there was one. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"But…that's impossible!" she exclaimed.

"Mom?" she heard Max say, "Who is it?"

"The person who we thought he was when we first was him: Kai Hiwitari." Questions were running through Judy's head as she said this. She smiled gently as the answers that Ben had given her now made sense.

* * *

Okay, okay, I know that it didn't really explain a lot, but if it's any consolidation, there's another chapter to read without waiting!

If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things. And I have.


	6. A Talk With Tala

And here's chapter the next chapter!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

A Talk with Tala

* * *

"_What?_" Tyson shouted out in confusion. "There is _no_ way that guy is him! So this was a-"

Before he could continue, the speaker on Judy's desk beeped. Judy leaned over a hesk and pressed a button. "Yes?"

"Judy, there's a boy here to see you," the other person replied to the query.

She nodded, even though she knew that the other person on the other side couldn't see her. "Okay. Send him through."

A minute passed by and a red-haired boy walked in.

"Tala? What are you doing here?" Max asked him when he saw him.

Instead of replying straight away, Tala walked past him and leaned on the wall behind Tyson. "Vacation," was his short reply.

Tyson then stood up to whirl and glared at the redhead. He leaned forward and placed his hands at the back of the sofa for support. "Why didn't you tell us what they were planning to do?"

All their eyes were on the Russian blader. His only response was a blink. "What are you talking about?"

There was a breif silence before Hilary answered (again) for everyone. "Kai."

Now Tala starting to look confused. He shifted to slightly change his posture. "What about him? And as far as I know, they haven't been planning anything. Just basking in their success." He didn't try to hide the contempt in his voice.

"Then what is he doing here?" Tyson demanded. "We even caught him!"

Tala stiffened and his eyes widened in disbelief. "He…you caught him?" he whispered.

"That's what they said," Judy said softly. "Here's the evidence." She handed him the folder that she was still holding. "I personally took the DNA from him."

The Russian blader opened it, looked at it and looked up to Judy's eyes. He tore his gaze away shortly after. "When did you find him?" His voice had become flat, more serious than what it had been before. But the capture of Kai _was_ serious.

"Last night, just before nine."

Tala was silent as he figured out the time zones for when Kai was captured. When he did, his head snapped up. "But that's impossible." The others could see that he was becoming agitated.

Ray turned around on the sofa and regarded Tala curiously. "Why do you say that?"

"Because that's around the time I left Russia and Kai was there to see me off," was the reply.

The ex-Bladebreakers and Hilary shared a look. It was quiet as they contemplated this new information.

Hilary was the one to break the silence. "Maybe he's a clone?" She looked thoughtful as she said it.

"Not perfect though," Max commented immediately after her.

Tyson nodded in agreement. "Definitely. The eyes are a dead give-away."

Ray was staring at the ceiling, half sprawled over the sofa. "That means he isn't a clone; a clone is an exact copy."

"Who are you talking about?" interrupted Tala. His head had been turning left and right as each person said something -something which he didn't know about. Why were they talking about clones?

Judy gazed intently at Tala. "Are you sure that it was Kai who saw you off?"

He nodded. Who would be stupid enough to dress up as Kai and walk around with all the things that had been happening?

"Perfect!" Tyson threw his hands in the air. "We now supposedly have _two_ Kais in the world! I can barely stand one, and now we're lucky enough to have two!"

"Can I see him?" Tala asked suddenly. "I'll know if it's him."

When Tyson heard him say that he burst out laughing, clutching at his sides. "Before we got the results we all thought that he was a fake," he said between gasps. "If _that's_ the real Kai, he must have banged his head, ran into a wall and nearly drowned to have lost that much brain cells and what was left, was scrambled to be the person we now have in one of our cells."

Tala was showing confusion again. "So you don't believe it's him?"

"Now _that's_ an understatement."

Max shook his head. "We don't, but what you've got in your hand proves otherwise."

Tala glanced down at his hand at the manilla folder and looked up again. "Well, can I see him?" the redhead repeated.

:-:-:

Kai was still trying to work out why Dranzer had reacted to Judy like that. The last time she had done that, it was when Max had found Draciel for the first time. Judy had handled Dranzer before, so why would this be any different? Kai had a distinct feeling that she had done that to show her approval, but why would Judy need that? It was almost like they had met for the first time. Thinking back, Judy had seemed surprised but that must have been because Dranzer didn't normally do that. Which brought him back to the why had she done that?

That was when the door opened. Since Kai was still lost in his thoughts he didn't notice nor did he hear anything when someone walked in.

Which was lucky for Tala as his first reaction to seeing Kai was to openly stare at him.

Looking up, Kai saw Tala. He was handcuffed in the same manner as he was and he noted that his clothes were different as well. "They got you too?" He wondered why whoever had told them to be put in cells had allowed them to be able to see each other.

"Uh…yeah. So…what's it like here?" Tala _had _to ask. Not that he didn't know, because he did know, but it was because if he didn't ask, it would seem like he had been here before. Which he had, but he didn't want Kai to know. If he was the real Kai. And thinking the way that he was, was getting really confusing.

"Nice. If you enjoy three people pointing guns at you while you're eating," Kai replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Tala nodded hesitantly. He wasn't sure what to make of the boy in front of him. In the first three sentences that he'd said, he'd proved that he wasn't Kai, mentally _or_ physically. "I think you're right Kai. For most people it wouldn't be their normal style." His eyes widened when he realised what he had said. Unconsciously, he took a step back, to find that his back was already backed up against the wall. He turned his head to the door and remembered that it was locked so to keep the charade up. "S-sorry," Tala stammered.

Kai raised his eyebrow in question. "What for?"

"For calling you Kai," Tala answered. He watched the boy in front of him to see how he would react. He was handcuffed so he couldn't defend himself. Okay, Kai was also handcuffed, but he had more time in them so he could have gotten them off by now, he just didn't show it.

"Okaaay. I still don't get it." Kai thought that Tala was acting a little bit like Tyson had. Except Tyson had said his name in anger, whereas when Tala had said his name, he seemed…scared. Why would he be scared? It was completely unlike him to be like that.

"What?" Tala murmered. "You always told me to call you Master." He waited for Kai's reaction.

Kai's response was a blink and his face slowly darkened in anger. "What?" his voice was a dangerous low growl. "Why the hell would I tell you do that?" He paused thoughtfully. "And when did I tell you that? Since when have you cared about what I ordered you to do? And you actually do it?"

There was silence after the questions. "You…don't mind that I call you Kai?" Tala cautiously asked.

Kai snorted at the question. "You've never called me anything else, have you?" Again, Kai felt a sense of déjà vu. What was with him repeating things that he had already said?

Tala thought back to some of his memories that were stored away in his head. Things which Master had said to him before when he –Tala- had said his first name. '_You are to call me Master and_ only_ Master, got it?_' '_How many times do I have to tell you? Call. Me. Master._' He had been glared hard at him after saying that. '_To you, my name isn't Kai. It's Master. Are you deaf?_' Each time Kai reminded him of his mistake, he would make sure that he wouldn't forget for a while.

Unfortunately, Tala was used to calling the ex-Bladebreaker captain by his first name that he would often slip. He winced inwardly at the memories.

Kai was waiting for an answer while Tala was reliving his memories. When he got no reply, he sighed and moved to the top part of the bed so that he was then sitting on the pillow. "Do you want to sit down?" he asked the quiet boy.

_That_ shook Tala out of his musings. He stared at Kai in open shock. Why would he ask? It was almost like he was treating him like an equal again… "What?" he said weakly.

Kai smirked in amusment. "We seem to be saying that a lot lately," he said dryly.

Tala contemplated if it was a trap. If it was, then Kai would tell him off for putting himself into a vulnerable position, which he could be attacked in and not be able to defend himself easily. He'd done it so many times before, surely him being tied up wouldn't stop him? "When was the last time we saw each other?" he asked suddenly, to see what he said. And also so that hopefully Kai would forget to ask him about sitting down again.

Kai looked up to the white ceiling in thought. He sighed and shook his head before looking back at Tala. "Two weeks ago."

At this, Tala frowned to himself. '_But I definitely saw you yesterday!_' Just who _was_ this guy?

Seeing his blank look, Kai thought Tala was trying to remember what he was talking about. "Don't tell me you've forgotten the World Championships?" he said, with a hint of amusment.

To this remark, Tala was confused. '_The World Championships were held last year. Of course I remember, how could I forget?_' They had won of course. They were trained to, weren't they? Tala knew what was going to happen when they won, but he didn't expect the degree of violence that would follow. He had only envisioned the future to a certain point.

Where they won the World Championships.

But when Voltaire had proclaimed his true intentions after the Demolition Boys had beaten the Bladebreakers, the _noise_! The racket those people made! And then when their bitbeasts proved themselves to have a physical body on a few of the spectator's bodies…the screams were horrible.

Later, after the adrenaline had faded, it was then that Tala fully comprehended what he had been ordered to do. What he had done. Yes, he knew what he was doing at the time, but he hadn't been thinking straight. And he had always followed orders without thinking. It was an automatic thing. '_Blindly following orders,_' Tala thought bitterly. And the people who fought back (Mr. Dickinson included) well…As much as he hated to say it, he was glad to see that there were people who would. It's just that they never stood a chance against something like Black Dranzer. That could have added as to why Kai was how he was. Drunk on power, he had killed people, and maybe it was then that he decided that he couldn't go back. That was why he had done the things that he had done.

"So what have you been doing since my grandfather was in jail?" Kai noted that Tala seemed a lot quieter from the last time he had seen him. Did it have something to do with what happened at the World Championships? He also figured that since Tala was asking these questions, why shouldn't he ask some in return? He also wanted some information, to see if Tala was part of this joke. Well, he couldn't be even though his clothes had changed. Because why else would he handcuffed? This joke had gone too far anyway. He was used to Tyson's pranks, which only went on before the 'punch-line' came, but this, this had gone on for hours! And how would this help with his team work skills?

Tala started. In his thoughts, he had forgotten who he was keeping company. He also started because of the question. "Why would you're grandfather be in jail?" he blurted out.

Kai had been watching Tala's reactions closely. He was shocked to see that his reactions were genuine. The surprise, the confusion, the disbelief. All real. He wasn't acting, he really didn't think that his grandfather was in jail. '_Should I tell him?_' Kai mused thoughtfully. '_No._' He mentally shook his head. He didn't understand all of it himself. And what he thought he had figured out…it didn't make sense. His internal barriers were coming up again. Barriers which he had kept up the whole time while he was with the Bladebreakers. They had come down on the day at the lake; they were coming up because of his distrust. He wasn't sure what to do, so what he did was act like the cold blader that everyone thought he was.

So Tala truly thought that his grandfather wasn't in jail. But he was there when it happened. Had he banged his head or something? If that was the case, so had everyone else. Or was he the one who had banged his head, and his 'memories' were just figments of his imagination and this was what his life was really like? Or was he dreaming this entire thing up? If that was the case, when was he going to wake up?

Looking at the red-haired blader, he saw that he staring at him intently, waiting for an answer. An answer that wasn't going to come any time soon.

The awkward silence continued.

It was broken when the two boys heard the jangle of keys near the door and the unmistakable click of it being unlocked. It swung open to reveal a young woman wearing glasses with short brown hair, and she was wearing a white lab coat. Something that Kai noticed was that most of the adults he had seen so far had been wearing the same thing.

She didn't step into the room. "Tala, your time is up. You're to come with me." She sounded almost bored.

Nodding, Tala followed her out, but not before giving Kai one last glance.

:-:-:

"That's not Kai."

Tyson snorted. "Didn't we already say that?"

They were sitting at a table in the food court. Tala had just arrived to be lucky enough to er, 'enjoy' the sight of Tyson eating. It was a wonder with everyone how he could force so much into his mouth and still be able to breathe, let alone talk.

Tala mumbled. "I thought you guys were exaggerating with how bad he was." He eyed Tyson's plate before asking the others, "Is there anything left?"

Tyson glared at the red-haired boy while he ate. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Tala pointedly looked everywhere, apart from Tyson's face. "Huh? Did you say something?" he asked when he 'caught' Tyson glaring at him. Max and Ray chuckled at their anitics. "Well? Is there? I want to eat before dinner!"

Hilary rolled her eyes before she nodded. "But you'll have to hurry. Some _other_ people might get to it before you do." Tala stood up from his seat and left.

Looking up from his food, Tyson groaned and clutched his head in frustration. "Will you quit it already? Jeez, you always go on about how I eat."

Laughing out loud, Max said, "Well if you stopped eating so much, then maybe we'd stop teasing you."

"It's not like there's anything else to do here," Tyson grumbled into his plate.

That shut them up sharpish.

With that one sentence, Tyson had reminded them of where they were and why they spent most of their daily lives underground. The only other thing that they could do was train. They weren't allowed in the labs where Judy worked most of the day, in case they spilled or broke something important. Some of the greatest discoveries were made by accident, so they could actually be helping…but they were still banned from entering unless an adult was with them.

There was one other thing that they could do. Explore. They'd been in there for a year, but they could still get lost. And to make sure that they knew where to go when they wanted. They learned that quickly. Imagine what it's like to run, on a full bladder, while trying to find the toilet in a place that's twice the size of a soccer field, with as many twists and turns as an ant hill.

"Hey Tyson, I got the last 'burger," Tala said with a toothy grin as he sat down. He frowned slightly when he noticed the sombre mood that wasn't there when he left.

"Tala?"

Tala was just about to take a bite out of his hamburger when he paused and lowered it to look at Max. "Yeah Max?"

Max fidgeted with a napkin before he said, "What did he say to you?"

Tala sighed. "A lot." That was the easiest answer to give.

"You know, we could make a list," Hilary said, her eyes starting to sparkle at the idea. "What he says we know is different."

Tyson made a disgusted face before taking another bite of his hamburger. "Ugh, Hilary, do you always have to think logically?"

Hilary hit Tyson at the back of his head, alsmost making his spit out his food. "What was that for?" he demanded

She sighed, ignoring the question. "What do you think? Should we?" she asked, looking at the people around her.

Ray shrugged. "We've nothing else to do."

"So who's got some paper?" Hilary looked at the napkin that Max was holding but decided against it.

"Uh…"

"Maybe one of the canteen people have some. I'll just go check." Hilary stood up and walked over to where some of the cafetria people were cleaning the tables.

Tyson rolled his eyes when she had gone through the door to the kitchen after getting directions. "She thinks of everything doesn't she?"

Ray smiled at him. "Of course she does, she's Hilary."

Hilary came back with pen and paper. "So, who starts?"

* * *

_Hopefully that will clear a few things up. Although you might want to or need to re-read the whole fic to get the small clues and such._

_Hope you guys think it was worth the wait!_

_If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things. And I have._


	7. Differences

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Differences

* * *

"I will," Tyson volunteered. "I was the first person to talk to him. Hmm, gimmie a minute." He was quiet for a short while, rocking back on his chair. He slowly put all the legs back onto the floor before he said, "He didn't mind me calling him Kai."

"That's right," Tala interrupted. The others looked at him questionally. "After the World Championships, he'd always told me to call him Master. He told everyone to call him that," he said the last part quietly. He noticed that no one looked him in the eye after he said that. Another reason why they had to stop Kai. It was another proclamation to his cruelty.

Tyson frowned. "Come to think about it, he even said that I hadn't called him anything else."

"Sorry to interrupt again, but he said that to me as well."

"I remember what he said next." Tyson's eyes were narrowed and his hands were clenched by his sides. "I asked him to give me Black Dranzer-"

"You asked him_ what_?" The walls echoed.

Tyson sighed and scratched his chin. "I was stalling for time and it doesn't hurt to ask does it?"

Their looks answered his question.

"Well, _anyway_, what he said in return was that he had given Black Dranzer to -get this- Mr. Dickinson!"

This time, no one said anything. The only sound was the scribbling of Hilary writing.

Tala was aware that the people around him (apart from Hilary) were giving him sidelong looks. He was sure they were. He had a feeling he knew what was running through their heads. Had he lied? Maybe Mr. Dickinson wasn't dead, and Biovault was currently holding him captive. Or maybe Tala was mistaken and he hadn't actually seen Mr. Dickinson die. But by the time they left the stadium, the body was cold, not breathing, or moving… He had to be dead! There was no way that a human could take on a full attack of _any_ bitbeast and live.

"As far as I know, Mr. Dickinson is still dead. I didn't see anyone take his body and I haven't seen or heard him in the Abbey," Tala said with a clenched jaw.

"We didn't say you were lying," Max chided him gently. "We were there. We saw it as well."

"So what does this mean?"

Tyson folded his armed and huffed. "He's messing with our heads of course." His tone said that it should have been obvious.

"There has to be a pattern," Ray reasoned.

"No pattern. He's just sprouting this randomly so he sees what gets the most reaction from us."

Hilary sighed, put a hand to her forehead and then looked up to glare at Tyson. "Can we get this done? As much I think you're right Tyson, I also think that Ray is right. There could be a pattern, but if we don't list it, how will we know?"

Tyson threw his hands up into the air as a sign of defeat. "Okay okay. We'll do whatever you say, we are at your command."

She continued glaring at him. "Did he say anything else after that?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Not much, just that he had been unconscious for six hours before we got to the river."

This was met with exclamations of:

"What?"

"Six hours!"

Hilary looked up from her note taking. "That can't be right," she murmered with a frown. "He couldn't have been there six hours before."

Tyson snorted. "How not? The camera's were offline six hours before we found him."

"Because, after the cameras were working again, _that_ was when the storm came up," Hilary shot back. "Are you saying that Kai was unconscious before or after the storm hit? If you are, he would have gotten pneumonia from being out in the rain for that long in his clothes."

They groaned collectively. "Another thing which doesn't make sense," Tyson grumbled.

Shrugging, Ray said, "He could have gotten the times wrong."

"Or he could be lying," Tyson pointed out.

Before Tyson could say anything else, Hilary interrupted him. "So that was all that he said to you?"

He nodded. "Yep."

"So, who did he speak to after that?" Hilary asked, turning to look at the others.

"Me," Max said with a wave and a wave. He leaned on the back of his chair as he thought. "Got it!" He snapped his fingers. "He didn't say much, but when I said that we were here to stop him and his grandfather, he stopped walking and said 'What do you mean my grandfather? He's in jail!'" he said, trying (and failing) to imitate the way that Kai talked.

"He stayed out of jail because we lied for him," Tala said quietly, eyes downcast. The others didn't notice the guilt that peppered the tone.

Max nodded. "That's pretty much what I said." He frowned and leaned one elbow on the table. "Because of that one sentence, he was able to tell who I was."

Curious, Hilary asked, "How? Did he explain?"

Max closed his eyes to make concentrating easier. "Just about. He said something along the lines of 'The things that you said. You said 'we' instead of the Bladebreakers. And I know that Ray would never sound as hyper as you.'" He took a deep breath. "When I took the blindfold off him, when he saw me, it like he was seeing me after a long time or for the first time. Then he asked me if I had dyed my hair." Nodding towards Tyson, Max continued. "When I asked him if he was feeling alright, he replied with 'I've been unconscious for the last six hours.'"

A glare from Hilary stopped Tyson from interrupting. Tyson slid down his chair sullenly.

"This is the weird thing, he got angry when I wondered out loud how he ended up knocked out. He then said something about me being 'there', how he and Tyson were going to have a beybattle but Tyson misfired and hit Kai on the head instead of the beydish."

Another glare halted Tyson making a comment. Which probably had the words 'deserved' and 'it' in it.

"Don't worry Hilary, that's all that I can remember anyway."

"Okay, the next person who he spoke to was me. He didn't say much, just asked me my name," Hilary said out loud as she wrote it down.

After scribbling for a few seconds, she looked up to see her Tyson and Tala staring at her in disbelief.

"He asked you your name?" Tyson's jaw was open.

"The very same person who-" Tala started.

"-could be heard from Russia over here-"

"-cursing your name because you-"

"-helped to sabotage the Abbey?" Tyson finished.

Getting over their initial shock, Tala and Tyson noticed that the rest of the Bladebreakers and Hilary were looking at them strangely. The strange looks then changed so that it looked like they were trying to suppress their laughter bubbling out of them.

"I guess that proves that they know each other really well." Ray chuckled. "And before you ask, he didn't talk to me specifically. I just heard what he said to the others."

Nodding, Hilary looked at the one person how hadn't told her anything yet, apart from passing comments.

Tala put his elbow onto the table, made a fist and rested his cheek on it. "This could take a while. I hate to say this, but this guy? He's kinda funny in a sarcastic way."

Tyson snorted at the statement. "So?"

"So…the way that Kai normally makes jokes is making a really obvious pun, you all know what it's like. It has all the quality of something Black Dranzer spat out."

Max was puzzled at the metaphor. "Black Dranzer can spit?"

Tala rolled his eyes. "It's just a saying." He paused as he thought of what he had said. "But I guess it could be possible since she has a physical body for but I've never had to feed Wolborg. I don't think birds can make spit in their mouths either."

Tyson smiled, his anger gone for the moment. "So much for _that_ saying."

"Yeah well. It was off the top of my head anyway." Tala shrugged. "What were we talking about before that again?"

"What the Kai look-alike said to you," Hilary reminded him.

He nodded. "Okay. As I said before, this person said that I'd never called him anything else apart from his real name. And when I told him that he was the one who told me to call him Master, he blinked and…looked angry. I thought it was because...I don't know what but I guess I kind of focused more on what he was saying."

"Why?" Hilary asked.

"'Why the hell would I tell you do that? And when did I tell you that? Since when have you cared about what I ordered you to do? And you actually do it?' I think were his exact words." Tala took a deep breath. "He told us to call him Master as soon as we got back into the Abbey after the World Championships. He sounded like he didn't believe me when he asked." He frowned at the table in front of him, remembering. He didn't say a word.

"Tala? You alright?" Ray asked worriedly after two minutes of silence had gone by, gently shaking his shoulder.

Tala sighed and shook his head. "I would be but this person has this knack of making me remember the worst things."

"I know what you mean," agreed Tyson. "When I first met him, I thought I had gone back in time or something." He frowned suddenly. "Did you say that he has a sarcastic type of humour?"

"Yep."

Tyson clutched his cap and groaned out loud. "This doesn't make any sense! Kai was like that before we got to Russia. But he definitely knows what Black Dranzer is! Arrgghh!"

Max grinned widely at his blue-haired friend. "I though you said that there was no logic to what this Kai is saying and he's just doing this to 'see what gets the most reaction from us.'"

"This guy must have had notes on Kai's life, I want to know which part he screwed up reading," Tyson said, frustrated.

"How about all of it?" Ray suggested.

Max added, "It would seem like it."

"So what happened next?" Hilary prompted Tala.

Tala lifted his head from his fist and leaned back. "On the spur of the moment, I asked him when was the last time we saw each other. The last time _I _saw him was yesterday. What he said though, was that the last time we had seen each other was two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago?" Tyson repeated. "I think I finally have the answer." After an expectant pause, Tyson continued. "The last time he saw you _was_ two weeks ago, but then he somehow got into a time machine and got transported back thirteen days earlier."

This was met with silence.

"But that doesn't explain what happened to this Kai's memories. If they're his," Max pointed out slowly.

"Duh. Something happens in the next two weeks that makes Kai make a time machine, something so big that he wants to correct it but when he goes through time, his concept of memories gets jumbled since he can see the possibilities of time travel. So this is the Kai the we all know and hate."

Tyson stopped his explanation and noticed that everyone was staring at him…again. He grinned happily. "You're all staring at me because I came up with the idea first."

"No." Hilary shook her head. "We're all staring at you because you actually used the word concept properly in a sentence."

:-:-:

Kai sighed as he gazed down at Dranzer in his lap. He had gotten her there by twisting his hands round into his pocket and then tossing her lightly. Somehow she had even landed with her bitpiece facing him. Why was everyone acting so weird? He had assumed that it was a joke before, but after seeing Tala's reaction…

As if sensing his thoughts, Dranzer started to glow. Almost like she did with Judy. But now it was more of comfort rather than acceptance.

Kai had seen nearly everyone from the Bladebreakers and some other people but he had still yet to see Kenny. Where was he and what was his part in this joke?

He growled in frustration. But this wasn't a joke was it? Tala had proved that. You couldn't fake the way that Tala had looked so he honestly believed that his grandfather wasn't in jail. Did this mean that they had been telling him what they really thought was true? Had they been brainwashed? But what would be the point? Surely they would realise something was wrong with their memories as soon as they saw that his grandfather was still in jail.

Kai was staring at the white wall in front of him. Well, all the walls surrounding him were white. Though he was staring at it, he wasn't seeing it. What he was seeing instead was what he had seen as soon as he had regained unconscious -or lack of. Try as he might, he couldn't really recall seeing any other people apart from who had a connection with beyblading. Okay, there was that Hilary girl, but she knew the Bladebreakers…And practically everyone knows the Bladebreakers because of their achievements in the World Tournaments, Kai thought resignedly. There were the people in the white coats but Kai assumed that they were researchers. The only ones that came to mind were the 'guards' that came to his room during the time that he ate.

But Hilary seemed to know the Bladebreakers on a more personal level, which meant that she technically had a connection with beyblading.

But if everyone was so different, how come Judy seemed to be the same? Apart from Dranzer glowing in her hand, she hadn't changed and who knew what Dranzer glowing in Judy's hand meant.

So why was everyone so different? This wasn't a joke so what…?

Round and around and around…  


  
:-:-:

"So, did this Kai say anything else?" Hilary asked, like she hadn't made that last remark.

Tala looked thoughtful. "You know? I think Tyson could be right."

Tyson spluttered in shock. "You agree with me?"

Nodding, Tala said, "Except this Kai went forward in time. He saw that I looked confused when he said that the last time we saw each other was two weeks ago. He must have or else he wouldn't have made a reference to the World Championships."

"What did he say?" Ray asked quietly.

Tala sighed and closed his eyes. "'Don't tell me you've forgotten the World Championships?'"

Max frowned. "Wait, wouldn't that mean that he thinks that the World Championships happened two weeks ago?"

Tala opened his eyes and nodded. "That's precisely what it means."

Tyson scratched his chin. "But I thought they happened last year?"

The food court was filled with four people simultaneously slapping thir foreheads.

"That's because they did," Ray confirmed for him.

"Okay. I knew that…Man, I'm seriously confused. _Don't _say it," he said warningly to Hilary.

"Say what?" Hilary asked innocently.

"Something like how I'm always confused so this time shouldn't be any different."

Max patted him on the back with a laugh. "Well done Tyson. She just got you to insult yourself."

Tyson blinked, realised what he'd done, covered his face with his hands and groaned.

Tala was staring at the table again, frowning. He didn't notice when someone nudged him in the ribs. Or poked him on the arm. Or tugged his ear. He did notice though when someone pulled his hair. He started and looked around wildly, like he had forgotten where he was. Ray still had a clump of his hair in his hand.

"Told ya it would work," Tyson said smugly.

"Something you want to tell us?" Max asked him in concern.

Tala smiled softly. "I was going to anyway. The last thing he said to me was about his grandfather. Asking what I was doing since his grandfather was in jail." He stopped. "And that's it. That's when Liz came and took me out."

"So..." began Max.

"So we can now see if this goes anywhere," Hilary said firmly.

"Riiiiight. So now we can see and scrutinize all of the mistakes this guy made," Tyson retorted.

"This is coming from the person who had a theory on how this Kai is from the future," Hilary countered.

He shut up.

"Can I see this list?" Ray asked. Hilary gave it to him. Ray placed it so that Tala could see it. Between the two of them, they should be able to work it out: Hilary was good with making plans; Tyson and Max for doing what the plans wanted them to do; and Ray and Tala were the ones who had the ideas on how to make the plans work.

They stared at it while Hilary and Tyson had somehow started arguing again even though Tyson had kept his mouth shut. Max was watching them like someone who was watching TV: entertainment.

The noise didn't bother them. They were so used to it that they filtered it out without much thought. Tala was trying to work it out by going in chronological order.

_'One, it's two weeks after the World Championships. Two, he doesn't have Black Dranzer. Three, he didn't know Hilary's name. Four, he thinks that his grandfather was in jail. Five, he didn't mind what they call him. Not completely in order but…'_

No. It couldn't be. Tala had found the answer. It had just come to him. But it _couldn't_ be the answer. Because it had never happened. But here was the evidence in front of him. He scanned over it once more. It all added to one thing. To one inconsistency. To one difference that was different from this person's memories from theirs. To one small thing that could change everthing. The timeline he didn't understand, but the rest made sense…In a twisted sort of way.

Tala stood up so suddenly that the chair he was sitting on fell backwards. He didn't put it back on its legs. Everyone had jumped at the sound. They were staring at him. He normally didn't show anger or anything like that. He didn't care; he was already slipping the handcuffs from his pocket onto his wrists. He had to know. He had to ask now. He didn't care if the question sounded stupid. But then of course, he wasn't there to see it happen now was he? It was one small thing. But the smallest things could make the biggest impact.

Tala had always thought of what could have happened to change the course of history. He had gone over numerous ideas of what could have happened. But never, never had he thought of this possibility. Because he thought it was impossible. Was it because of that small difference that this Kai was the opposite of the Kai that he knew the most? But he must be delusional. He must be dreaming of a world of where the Demolition Boys didn't win the World Championships. But if that was true, then why was he dressed up as Kai, talked like Kai and even had Dranzer. Wait. How the hell did he get Dranzer? Dranzer was still-

"Wait up!"

He kept on half walking-half jogging but he looked over his shoulder. It was Ray. "You worked it out?" Ray asked him, slightly breathless.

Tala nodded. He then began to hear the footfalls of the others. By now, they had nearly gotten to where Kai was being held.

"Max, do you still have the key?"

Max wordlessly opened the door.

Tala walked in, opened his mouth and before he could think of what he was going to say what words just tumbled out on their own.

"Kai, can you tell me what happened on that day on the lake in Russia?"

* * *

_Ta-ra! And now you finally have something solid instead of hints and guesses! I hope you people can work out what Tala's worked out._

_I can't believe this, but the last three chapters? In my mind, I thought it was going to all in the one chapter._

_If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things. And I have._

_Dark Ice Dragon_


	8. So What Happened?

Soooo sorry for the long wait! I was searching the internet to find a good summary of what happened in season one. Finding it, on the other hand, is a whole different matter. I didn't find it. I ended finding out what happened on a forum that I've joined.

Which reminds me, I've now joinedtwo sites if you people are interested.

Then there's Livejournal. Read that if you want to know why I'm not writing. Again, my sn is darkicedragon.

And last of all, there's deviantart. I don't know why I'm telling you people, because I'm not that sure of my scribbles but my sn there is Dark**Pyro**Dragon. The stuff which is up at the moment is the best stuff, so don't be expecting any more stuff like it!

Another reason why it's taken me some time to write this chapter is that I've been writing a couple more fics.

**Shameless plug:** If you're into Jing: King of Bandits or Yu-Gi-Oh then you could be interested.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this (extremely late) chapter.

My beta reader was a little confused by the 'this' and 'their'. You'll know what I mean when you see it. Basically, I'm just showing you which Kai Tala is talking about.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

So What Happened?

* * *

"Kai, can you tell me what happened on that day on the lake in Russia?"

Kai studied the red-haired boy standing in front of him. Why would he want to know? Well, he wasn't there, so he could be curious. No one else had been there when it had happened apart from the Bladebreakers. And since they all had their memories scrambled up, if they told him, it probably wouldn't be true. But why should he tell him? If Tala thought that his grandfather wasn't in jail, he wouldn't believe him if he told him.

Why did he care what happened there anyway? What had happened happened. There was nothing else that could be done about it. You can't travel back in time any more tham man flying with feathered wings.

"Why?" Kai asked.

Tala struggled for an answer, panic starting to bubble below the surface of his thoughts. He knew he should have thought about it more! "I can't really ask the others can I?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to act as normal as he could.

Who cared why Tala wanted to know? Was there any point in telling him anyway? What's past is past. Everything would have ended up the same as they did anyway if it hadn't of happened.

"So you come to me? What makes you think I'll tell you?" Kai drawled, not looking at the red-haired boy.

Tala sighed in resignation. "Because, if I don't get it out of you, I'll be stuck in here. That's why they're letting me talk to you. They want to know your version of it."

'_Who are they?_' "Let me get this straight. They want me to tell you what happened at the lake and then what? They'll let us go? You go?"

"Well…" Tala trailed off.

"Fine," Kai snapped. "If this is what I have to do to make sure that I don't get bothered anymore, then I will." He glared across the room, trying once more to find the hidden cameras. "I had wanted to get the bitbeasts of my teammates so I told the Bladebreakers to meet me at the lake. I think you know that by then, Max had lost Draciel to Black Dranzer."

Tala was slightly thrown off by Kai's wording. He said Black Dranzer and not 'me'. And by the tone of his voice, Kai didn't like it. Why?

"I was standing on Baikal Lake when they came. I challenged them to a beybattle and it was Tyson who accepted. But instead of using Dragoon, he used Dranzer." At this, Kai laughed darkly. "She was _not_ happy. More than that, she was pissed off at me for choosing Black Dranzer over her." Kai shook his head at his mistake.

"When he pulled her out, I thought he was joking; I had Black Dranzer, the end result of years of experimentation and research. Tyson may have had the original, but how could the original compete with its clone? Its clone had been made specifically to be stronger than the original and to be above all others." Kai stopped again when he felt a warm presence come from his pocket. He smiled inwardly as the reassuring presence. So she wasn't still mad at him for abandoning her for –what you could say- her daughter. He continued on. "I wasn't expecting much of a fight, but I found out the hard way that a bitbeast's energy levels at the start of a battle or before it's launched can change just because of what the bitbeast is feeling."

:-:-:

Kai's last words struck a chord with Tala. It looked like his hunch was right. But what did all this mean? This couldn't be the real Kai because he had seen him in Russia when the Bladebreakers had found him in Japan at the same time. But he knew private information that nobody else would know unless they had actually been there and witnessed the event.

And Tala was telling the truth when he didn't know what had happened at the lake. The others hadn't told him the specific details so he only knew the gist of it. Tala suspected that even Mr. Dickinson didn't know what took place before he died. But from what Tala already knew, this version of things was different from what the Bladebreakers had said had happened.

"Anything else?" Kai asked dryly, eyebrow raised.

"Err…" Thinking swiftly, Tala asked the question that would cement the reason why 'this' Kai was different from 'their' Kai. "So who won?"

Eyebrow still raised, Kai murmured, "It only took a few hits from her to bring down Black Dranzer. She didn't even come out of her bitpiece." He then sighed softly.

So. That was it then. Tala, with a little bit of prodding, had found his answer. The answer that he had come up with mere minutes ago. But up came the same question as before: what did this all mean? Why did 'this' Kai have different memories from 'their' Kai? Was he a clone? A long lost identical twin? A freak of nature that co-incidentally made this person look and act the Kai everyone knew?

Even as the ideas came up, they were shot down.

A clone? He would have had to have been made before Kai had gone back to Russia and that was impossible because the Abbey wouldn't have had his blood sample until after he joined the Demolition Boys. Tala would have known if they were doing it as well.

A long lost twin brother who just so happens to wear the same clothes as his twin, has the same attitude and even the markings on his face? Okay, 'their' Kai no longer bore the markings on his face, but still. Tala had heard of twins who could feel what the other twin was feeling and some separated twins life mirrored each other but how could 'this' Kai's life be parallel to 'their' Kai's life when there was only one World Championship?

The freak of nature theory? Some problem as the long lost twin.

Then of course, if one of these things were true, how come it hadn't been mentioned in the papers? They always printed the last place Kai was last seen so that the general public would stay away in case they got hurt. It didn't help the tourist agencies any when they also printed where Kai had gone when he was in the Bladebreakers. And because he was in the Bladebreakers, they had to travel to a lot of different places for tournaments and promotion.

Just _in case_ he wanted to revisit old haunts.

"But we had beybladed on a frozen lake with fire bitbeasts," Kai continued. "It's so simple to what happened next that even Tyson could work it out."

Tala heard something from outside the door. Turing his head slightly, Tala listened to see if there was going to be any more. There wasn't. So the others were listening. Of course they were, they were as curious as he was. But even though they had their answer, it didn't mean they knew when it meant.

But if the ice had cracked, Kai's scarf and the rest of his clothes would have dragged him down and the lack of warm clothing would have finished the job even if he had somehow gotten out. So what happened next?

"The ice started to melt and crack," Kai continued, not realising that he was answering Tala's unasked question. "I was the only one who was standing on the ice because if we all were, I wouldn't be here." He stared off in the distance for a short while, maybe reliving what had happened.

As much as Tala hated to admit it, he was getting pulled into the story. He may have been told the story before –even though it was a small portion- but hearing it from 'this' Kai's point of view was interesting, and of course different.

Kai shook his head, his hair covering his face. "Tyson, he's friends with everyone and loyal to the end. Even though I had betrayed the Bladebreakers, he still risked his life to save mine."

:-:-:

Kai himself was surprised by how much information he had told Tala. They had been trained to be the best, not to be able to converse. Kai had grown up with Tala though, so that could explain how Kai could talk to him easily. Not that he showed it, but the ability was still there.

Why was Tala asking him all these questions in the first place? Kai wondered. If he had gone to Tyson, Tyson would have told the entire story and then some. He would have bragged at how badly Kai had lost to him. That was probably the reason why he asked to go to him then. Kai would have told him it true without any prejudice or biased opinion. But if Tyson brought him there in the first place, would Tyson tell the 'prisoners' anything?

Looking at the redhead, Kai saw that he had a strange far-away look in his eye. Like he was thinking about something. But what would that be? Normally Tala would accept whatever was said to him, just as long as it was from someone above him. He knew what Tyson was like, if Tyson was determined enough, he would try to do anything and everything. And he knew how loyal he was when Kai had gotten 'ill' at the Abbey.

:-:-:

There was complete silence on the other side of the doorframe. Tyson had saved Kai's life? He had risked his life for Kai? Tala knew that Tyson was loyal to the end, he had seen it often enough, but was he loyal enough to save someone who had betrayed him?

Yes. But loyal enough with Kai? He was the team-leader and he left them. For his own team, Tala thought bitterly. Tala was probably the one person who truly knew what Kai was like and he knew that Kai could have swung two ways.

Kai had already gone down one path. That was to obey everything that his grandfather ordered him to do. If 'their' Kai had the chance to turn away from his grandfather, after what had happened at the stadium, would he have taken it? Tala sometimes wondered. Or maybe he had, and all that had happened in the following year had been of his own decision. Tala mentally shook himself. No matter what Kai had done, Tala had always hoped that Kai would change back to the person who didn't remember anything about his past. Being enemies then, was easier than being on the same team now.

But there was another path that Kai could have taken. The other path was the one that this Kai seemed to have taken. But it wasn't because he chose to do it was it? It was because of external influences. So if this Kai had lost to Tyson in his head -'memories' -whatever! Would he be exactly the same as 'their' Kai?  


  
:-:-:

Kai thought about how long the conversation had taken. Tala had been asking too many questions; it wasn't normal for him.

There was something at the back of his mind, wanting to be asked. Kai wasn't sure what it was, but subconsciously he knew. Subconsciously he knew what was wrong, but consciously he ignored it.

He was tired. Tired of secrets. Tired of keeping up appearances. Tired of always being cautious. In certain moments of weakness, he envied Tyson. He envied him because he was so carefree. He didn't think about what he said or did and he considered a lot of things in life to be a game. Though, because of that he got into a lot of trouble. He (mostly) didn't care of how his actions would affect other people or his future. He lived for the here and now.

Maybe he should just do that for the moment and let his instincts take over and say whatever was on his mind.  


  
:-:-:

Tala was extremely confused.

In all the time that he had been talking to 'this' Kai, he had found out: what happened to 'this' Kai at the lake; what 'this' Kai's personality was probably going to be like; and that his hunch was right. What he still hadn't found out was why 'this' Kai was like this. This theory had been proven correct but he didn't have the physical evidence as to why.

He couldn't just ask how 'this' Kai had come to experience these memories. That was the problem. 'This' Kai believed that he really did these things, but he knew things the general public didn't. No one knew that it even happened. All that they understood was that one day, Kai changed teams and the rest, as they say, is history.

Tala sometimes wished that he could go into Kai's room and steal Black Dranzer to bring to Judy. But he had a vague idea what would happen instead.

Quite a lot of people had tried to assassinate the blue-haired Russian 'blader and this reflected on how 'their' Kai's room was like: his room had motion sensors that switched themselves on when the lights in the room were turned off; the room was in the middle of the Abbey so that people wouldn't be able to climb in through the window; there was a device inside that monitored his life signs and all who entered, if they changed from the normal, they knew something was wrong; there were pressure pads that were programmed to only accept Kai's, his grandfather's and Boris' weight; there was even a voice recognition, retina scan in front of the door; not to mention the two cameras.

A fortress within a fortress.

And then of course there was Kai himself to deal with. Put that altogether and it would be impossible. But with Kai being so careful, how did these people know what Kai had done? Or did they try to do it because of what happened to the World Championships?

There was a soft clinking sound as Kai shifted around on his bed. Tala glanced at him and saw that Kai was absentmindedly staring at one of the walls. He knew the signs. Kai was building himself up to ask a question. He had seen it enough times when he was about to in front of either his grandfather or Boris. This had mostly been right after the World Championships and the only time he questioned the elders was when they were discussing tactics together. Tala wasn't sure, but he thought that he was the only one who picked up that 'their' Kai did that.

Tala then realised what he was thinking. 'This' Kai even had the same mannerisms as 'their' Kai.

The clinking noise came again. Tala frowned to himself. Kai never hesitated for this long (another reason why some people wouldn't have picked up on his moving about) and he normally didn't fidget twice.

Great. Another difference that had to be explained somehow.

He wanted to ask what was up. He didn't know why, but he felt closer to 'this' Kai than he did for a long time with 'their' Kai. But knowing Kai, if he asked him, he would just grunt in return and not say anything else. The Kai before Black Dranzer came along, that is. He seemed to have a different 'history' from 'their' Kai but if everything else was the same beforehand, then the basic personality should still be like what 'their' Kai was like before the World Championships.

Tala's head was starting to hurt again. After all that, he still wasn't closer to working out why and how 'this' Kai was here.

Kai shifted again. Why was he taking so long? What was his question that made him so hesitant?

Ah, stuff it. "Is something bothering you? Apart from the chains that is," he joked, hoping that the lightness of his voice would make him open up instead of ignoring him

Slowly, Kai turned his head to look at Tala.

"I know you're with them."

Tala's heart stopped. '_He knows…_'_

* * *

Ooooo. Cliffy. I wanna tell you people but I can't! It'll ruin it. Well, not exactly but if I tell you it might make you… _

Gah. The bad points of being a writer.

I really feel like the two of them are out of character.

Ah well. Hope you people liked it!

If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things.


	9. What Do We Really Know?

Yeah I haven't updated in a loong while. I kinda lost interest, never seemed to have the time and forgot the plotline a bit. The worst of it was that I had to re-read this to remember all that happened, though I found a ton of mistakes. Also looking back, I realize that I said it was going to be from Kai's P.o.V when it's turned into a mixture. Ah well.

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

What Do We Really Know?

* * *

"I know you're with them," Kai said flatly.

Tala's heart stopped upon the realisation. '_He knows…_'

Oblivious to the red-head's distress Kai continued on, turning his head to look at one of the room's corners. "It's obvious that you're in the joke."

It took a second for Tala to comprehend what had been said and another to realise he hadn't been found out. Not yet, and hopefully not for some time. Or ever. '_What?_' Tala thought he had heard something familiar in that but his mind was still frozen. "Joke?" he repeated, feeling dazed from the sudden adernaline rush that wasn't needed.

"Somehow I don't think more people would let the people who they've 'caught' go into a room without locking the door or without guards," Kai replied lazily. "I know there are people around the door-frames but they definitely aren't guards; they aren't even even adults." Tala was then fixed with a stare that dared him to disagree. He couldn't look away. The shadows around the door shifted.

'_Well of course he was going to notice,_' a voice in his head berated. '_He's Kai!_' Tala didn't try to correct it since 'this' Kai was an impostor. '_Really? You have scientific evidence that 'this' Kai is your Kai; you've noticed subtle similarities between the two that only people who really know him would notice; his DNA checked out-_'

'_But what about the differences?_' Tala stopped, considering something. '_I'm arguing with a voice in my head. As if life wasn't bad enough -now I'm schizophrenic._'

The voice chuckled. '_Oh, your sanity is fine. Now, shouldn't you be saying something to Kai?_' it pointed out.

He didn't have to. While Tala was staring into space, the rest of the Bladebreakers had filed into the room making it seem smaller than what it already was.

"Kai," Max started gently, playing with the bottom of his shirt. "Why do you keep thinking that this is a joke?" he asked. "I would have thought you of all people would understand how serious this is."

Kai glared at them. "Actually, I _don't_," he said acidly.

This was met with disbelieving looks -with a sprinkle of pity. If there was one thing that Kai hated equally to his grandfather, it was seeing pity in other peoples eyes directed at him. Tala knew that but did the others?

"You don't?" Tyson searched Kai's face for an indication that he was lying. But since Kai had raised the barriers of his mind, it would be like trying to read a brick wall.

Kai closed his eyes and took a calming breath. It didn't help. "Tyson, are your ears filled with cotton balls as well as your brain being empty? Or is that what your brain is?" he snipped. "I just said I don't know what's happening. Is that understood?"

Tyson's brow was furrowed and he frowned. "But how-"

Ray put a placating hand on Tyson's shoulder. "Tyson, if what Kai is saying is true, then none of the things that we have experienced in the last year have happened. And it looks like it won't be happening anytime soon either."

Tala saw that Kai wasn't really listening to what Ray was saying; his attention was more on something that was sitting on his lap than the people around him. It looked like a…beyblade. A red and blue one.

But that was impossible, his mind protested. There was only one of each bitbeast, and Dranzer was already…There was no way that this Kai could have gotten inside the warehouse without setting off an alarm or being seen in at least one of the cameras. And if he had somehow done that, and he was resting when he was found, why would he put her in plain sight? Or was he just showing off?

An imitation perhaps? Tala stifled a snort. No one would dare (not anyone sane anyway) do that. If Kai found out, the imitation would be worse than broken. The blader would also have been taken care of. But the Kai in front of him wasn't exactly right in the head.

One way to find out. "Kai?" Kai inclined his head to say he was listening. "Is that -is that Dranzer?"

_That_ got everyones attention. Ignoring the confusion etched in the others faces, Kai nodded.

Tala's mouth was suddenly dry. Just who was this person? They had established the differences and similarities; they had worked out when his personality had differentiated from what had happened in the past; knew for a fact that he both was and wasn't the Kai that they knew. They just couldn't figure out how.

What would happen if more people like this appeared out of nowhere? The probability of that actually happening was slim but if there was one, then there could always be one more.

"That's impossible!" Tyson shouted. Without warning, he started to move closer to Kai, shrugging off Ray's hand.

And then tripped over when Tala oh-so casually moved one of his feet in the way.

Kai was looking down at Tyson's cap, smirking. "What is Tyson? Walking in a straight line? Or just walking?"

Tyson banged his fist against the metal floor. "What did ya do that for Tala?" he demanded, glaring over his shoulder.

Max answered for him. "Tyson, I don't think my mom would like it if the next time she saw him, he had a black eye."

"And?" Tyson grumbled.

"Are you going to spend all day staring at my shoes?" Kai asked Tyson.

"Shut up Kai!" Tyson hauled himself to his feet. He glared at Kai while he did so. "How did you get Dranzer?" he asked sharply.

A raised eyebrow was his only reply.

Tyson knew that unless Kai wanted to talk, they could be asking questions until the end of time and would still be met with stony silence. If he hadn't been driven insane by being in the same room as Tyson first. So he did the only thing he could think of at that moment: he swiped Dranzer from Kai's lap.

Of course Tyson didn't know if there would be any reaction. This Kai had somehow gotten a hold of Dranzer (or a very good imitation of her), but why not use the same materials to make Black Dranzer? To complete the outfit? And if she was just an imitation (had to be, right?) he wouldn't be too attached to it.

But the real Kai had just dumped Dranzer for another bitbeast without a thought hadn't he?

Several things happened at once. Kai had surged to his feet as soon as he realised what Tyson had done. Handcuffs or no, he was _going_ to get her back. Seeing this, Ray ran forward to stop whatever Kai was planning, placing himself in between the two of them. However, before either of them reached their destination, Tyson dropped the beyblade with a hiss of pain.

"What the hell? You booby-trapped it!" he shouted, pointing at the slightly smoking 'blade and then to Kai. Dranzer pulsed in response.

Kai stopped and scowled at him. Inside though, he was baffled. Dranzer had never burned anyone before. He didn't even know that she could do that. But why had she done that? Obviously she didn't like being snatched up like that but she wouldn't normally respond like that. Pulse, yes. But deliberately hurt? That wasn't like her.

"I did not 'booby-trap' her," he growled. "She's never done that before."

"Yeah right," Tyson sneered. "I bet she does that to everyone apart from you."

"Judy held her yesterday."

"So it doesn't do anything to girls then!" Tyson retorted without thinking.

Kai's eyes glittered dangerously. Tyson hadn't realised what he had just implied and was still glaring at the blue-haired Russian blader. "Tyson," his voice a low growl, "are you suggesting that I am a girl?"

Confused, Tyson asked, "Why would a girl dress-up as a guy?"

It took a full moment before anyone understood what Tyson had unwittingly said. Again.

Tala had a feeling that if Kai were able, his hands would be covering his face in resignation. Either that, or he would have hit him. How could Tyson make such a stupid comment? He was glad that Hilary wasn't there or else she would have said something to set Tyson off for that remark. Although, being in the same room as both Kai and Hilary would have disintegrated into a shouting match (between Hilary and Tyson anyway) by this point. That much was certain. And if those two joined forces against Tyson…

"That's what a tom-boy is. A girl who dresses up like a boy," a new voice chimed in. Everyone turned to look at the newcomer. It was Judy.

"Honestly Tyson! How could you say something so-" Hilary was stopped from continuing by a sharp look from Judy.

With a small shake of her head, Judy asked, "Can I ask what the four of you are doing here?" She gave Kai an appraising glance, to make sure that all they had done was talk. What her eyes showed seemed to satisfy her.

Suddenly four pairs of eyes were downcast, not looking at anything apart from their shoes. Looking closely, you might have seen a flush in their cheeks.

Kai's eyes were also downcast but not at his shoes. They were drawn like magnets to the fallen beyblade. Where she was now, it would be impossible to pick her up. Not without help; unless he wanted to do some fancy footwork and kick her so that she was on the bed. Which he would never do. So he would have to ask for help. Which he never did. Either way, he would be going against his typical way of doing things.

Kicking her would be like betraying all over again. It may seem a little strong, but after all that she went through when he left her, getting kicked around just because he couldn't use his hands properly shouldn't be another thing she should think about.

"Tala figured something out," Max answered after the silence went on. "Then we-"

"Should have come to me with this information," she finished, frowning slightly at Max. Not in anger but in disappointment.

What they had done was risky and stupid. Putting Tala in the same room with Kai unarmed and handcuffed was downright idiotic. Yet they still did it. Both of them. Kai had shown himself perfectly capable of getting out restraints before.

The Kai they knew was dangerous, there was no questioning it. But there was no proof that he was. And without proof, you couldn't accuse anybody of anything. The bladers who had bitbeasts knew of course. They also knew if they told anyone, their bitbeasts would be taken from them by force.

Judy sighed and told them all to leave the room. They did as she ordered them without complaint. The door closed with a click. Kai wasn't looking at her and the handcuffs still on behind his back. Why hadn't he gotten them off yet? Why did she persist in comparing the two Kai's?

"Did they hurt you?" she asked.

"No."

"You just talked?"

"Yes."

"That was it?"

"Yes."

"Are you okay?"

Silence.

Judy noticed that there was a red and blue 'blade on the floor. Dranzer. How had she gotten there? She remembered that that was where Tyson was standing. Great, what did he do this time? she thought. How did they know where Dranzer was? If they had done something to Kai, Judy would have entered the cell with four people unconscious on the floor. Either that or four dead people.

Like before.

It wasn't four people the last time. Last time it was two men who had been armed. Kai had been restrained at the wrists and ankles. And he was still able to- No. She was not going to wallow herself in the past again. What happened had already happened. There was nothing she could do to change that. The only thing she could do was to make sure that it would never occur again. Yet it happened three times in two days.

Without a word, Kai sat himself back onto the bed. Blaming it on her parental instinct, she crossed the room, scooped up Dranzer –who glowed and warmed in her hand- and dropped her on his lap. She didn't look at his face. She didn't want to see the expression on his face, if there was any. She didn't want to see the open scorn on his face for being 'weak'. If she didn't want to see how he reacted. Why did she do it? He was still an unknown enemy. And his appearance was of a person who had killed so many people.

She left without a word.

If she had turned to look at him, she would have seen hints of confusion, wariness and even a bit of gratitude.

* * *

Yeah, it's extremely late. But I had a ton of things to do. Plus I kinda got a block on this for a while. Well, at least it isn't too much of a cliffhanger.

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	10. Close To Freedom

Hello! I actually did this in a short time! (Is amazed) Anyway, just a little warning, the times in-between the - might not fit in with each other. It might jump a little forward and then go back a little bit.

* * *

**  
**

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Close To Freedom

* * *

**  
**A hand slammed on the desktop. "What were you _thinking_?" The five teenagers in the room flinched at the loud noise and Judy's tone.

"But-!" Tyson tried to say.

"No buts Tyson!" Judy shouted. "What the four of you did was irresponsible!" She held up a hand to stop Tyson when he opened his mouth. "I don't_ care_ what you found out, or that you couldn't wait, or find me." Tyson closed his mouth. "You should have come to me first," she repeated more quietly.

:-:-:  


  
The person who was the cause for Judy's worry was, at that point, leaning his back on the headboard, staring at the closed door. The sounds of a clinking chain filled the small room. His eyes looked a little glazed, like he was thinking about something that held no relevance to the door.

If he just nudged it to the left…He shifted his shoulders. Almost got it. Dranzer had to be a little higher to get into the catch. He shifted his shoulders again. Nearly there.  
_  
Click.  
_  
But it wasn't the sound of the handcuffs breaking, or even the handcuffs succumbing to the lock picking. It was the sound of the door unlocking. Kai tensed, stopping the movement of his restraints, hoping that it wasn't obvious that he was trying to escape.

No one came in.

Puzzled, Kai continued to watch the door, the current job at hand temporarily forgotten. Who was it? Why were they waiting? Was it someone who got bored of the joke and was letting him out? Maybe it was the Bladebreakers. His mind _wanted_ the questions answered and more kept on coming. He couldn't answer them, but he could wait for something to happen. He was nearly free from the handcuffs anyway. A quick jerk should be enough to do it. Then he would have to find out how to escape when the door didn't have a handle on his side.

The door was slowly pushed open.

Kai heard the rattle of plates before he saw the cart. He let himself relax a little bit. Then realised what that meant: he was getting lunch. To have lunch he would need to use his hands; his hands were handcuffed.

When he had breakfast, they had un-cuffed him but made him eat with armed guards in the room. Kai had been too busy getting the circulation back into his hands and warily eating the food in front of him to actually think about where the guns had come from.

They had to be filled with blanks. They had to be.

There was no way that Tyson could have gotten real guns, let alone real ammo. Who would have bought them for him? Who would be stupid enough to buy Tyson a gun? Assuming, of course, that it was Tyson who was behind all this. Kai closed his eyes; he hated it when he was curious. He liked knowing what was going on. That was probably why he had let himself be manipulated into joining the Demolition Boys. He wanted to know how Boris knew about him (excluding the fact that he was famous), his abilities and how he knew how to improve his skills so quickly.

Wait…Last time there were three people. Can a person buy three guns at one time? Wasn't there a waiting period?

Only if they were real guns.

The rattling ended when the cart stopped in front of him. Behind it was the same man who had given him breakfast. Kai looked up to study the person. He was a young man in his mid-thirties. His hair was short and light brown that was cropped past his ears. His eyes were a dark blue that showed wariness - for general life or for the person he was serving food, Kai didn't know. Around his eyes were laughter lines that converged with the worry lines on his forehead. He wasn't wearing any kind of uniform.

After the man had stopped, three people marched in with guns in their arms.

He wasn't worried. He knew that they wouldn't shoot unless there was a good reason for it. It just annoyed him; he was so close to getting those damn restraints off. Then after he had his lunch he would get them put back on him, undoing all his work. Well, there was nothing he could do about that. He would just have to start all over again.  


  
:-:-:

Judy took in a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she seated herself into her chair were she leaned back and placed one hand over her eyes.

"What did you find out?" she asked in a resigned voice.

There was a brief pause and the five teenagers glanced at each other, silently asking who would answer her question.

With a small nod to the others, Tala started explaining.  


  
:-:-:

Now that he was actually paying attention to the people in 'his' room, Kai realised that the looks that he was receiving from them were more than a little curious.

The men with the guns held their guns with experience (were they being paid to do this? Just how much was Tyson spending on this?). And the stares that he was getting from them were far from friendly. They were narrowed slits that showed they were prepared to shoot him if he did the slightest thing out of the ordinary.

Eyes were said to be the window of the soul. If that was true, what the four people in that room shared was wariness and –Kai was surprised to see- fear for the blue-haired Russian blader. Kai scowled at the armed men in front of him –the cook was behind him, unlocking the handcuffs. Were they still thinking about what happened at the World Tournament? His scowl deepened.

It wasn't all his fault.  


  
:-:-:

"Well, we were bored so Hilary decided to make a list of the differences between 'this' Kai and 'our' Kai," he paused, unsure how to carry on. "We didn't really have an aim in mind; just something to do. After we made the list, I figured out that there was something in there that didn't make sense. Something that hadn't happened which could have made all the difference. Except for the time difference, it made sense." His eyes looked away to something in his memory.

Judy waited for Tala to say anything else but he didn't. That was so like him. If it had been Tyson, he would have made a much bigger deal of what he had done and told it more dramatically. Judy had to wonder sometimes, was it because Tala was modest and never thought that what he did had a big impact or was it because of his training in Biovault taught him to get straight to the point?

"And?" she prompted him.

"The lake," he said quietly. "That's what happened to him, but not to us."

"Lake? What lake?" she asked at the encriptic reply. She uncovered her eyes and stared at the people in front of her. Was it something only Tala knew? Looking at them closely, she saw that the boys looked unhappy and guilty for some reason. Hilary, on the other hand, was as confused as she was.

She could understand how Tala knew – he had been, after all, with Kai nearly all of his life. But the Bladebreakers? They obviously knew what he was talking about. So it must have had something to do with when Kai was still in the Bladebreakers. She frowned at the thought. That couldn't be right though. If that was true, how did Tala fit into this? Or was it the other way around?  


  
:-:-:

Kai sighed as he felt the now familiar metal curve around his wrists once more. This time though, his hands were brought to the front instead of his back. So did they trust him more or was it because the hidden camera couldn't see what he was doing behind his back?

Kai still hadn't found it but with limited use of his arms he could only rely on sight. Being that the room was bare save for the bed, it wasn't hard. He wasn't able to check underneath the bed. Well, he could have if he wanted to, but he didn't, seeing as if the bed had a bug on it, all it would be able to do was pick up sounds.

They left and Kai was finally alone again. Throughout all of that, not one word had been said. The only things that were exchanged was food (though he couldn't really give that back) and glares.

Dranzer was instantly in his hands, helping his escape. This time, he knew what to do (albeit backwards) so it wouldn't take as long.

The problem with the door wasn't as problematic as he thought it was. Cliché it may be, but he would have to escape by knocking the people out when they first come through the door. That wouldn't be for a few hours. The cart he could easily jump over and the armed guards wouldn't dare shoot in case they wanted to end up hitting each other.

Then all that he would have to do was either get out or find the person who set this up. Or both.

Dranzer glowed in warning but Kai, for once, misinterpreted her and thought she was doing so in agreement.  


  
:-:-:

They still hadn't answered her.

What had this have to do with a lake? No news articles had covered the Bladebreakers doing anything at a lake and if they had, it was a promotion of their team and a lot of people there. Obviously she had kept up with them. Not just because they were a rival group for the All Stars but because of Max. What kind of mother would she be if she hadn't?

Even Tyson was subdued and that was saying a lot.

"Well?" Hilary crossed her arms. "You can't just say that and not anything else."

It was Ray who answered her. "Hilary," he said softly. "Please. This isn't something we can just bring up in a casual conversation. It was…it was hard enough when it happened. Now it looks like we're being forced to remember it." He looked at the women pleadingly. "I want to say this once without interruptions." He waited for them to nod before he began to talk again. "When we found out that Kai had left us to join the Demolition Boys we were shocked and angry. How could he have done that?

"We were in our hotel room in Russia when we got the call. It was Kai saying that he was going to meet us Baikal Lake. We got there and he was waiting for us. The temperature was so low that the entire lake was frozen solid. Kai was standing on top of it." Ray closed his eyes and sighed. He opened them again and continued. "He said that he wanted our bitbeasts. As you know, the only way for Black Dranzer to get the power of another bitbeast is to defeat it in a beybattle. Max had already lost Draciel to Black Dranzer at that point." Ray turned his head to look at Tyson with a sad smile, wordlessly asking him to continue.

"I accepted," Tyson said, taking over the story. "Of course I was worried, but I thought I had Kai's trump card. Instead of using Dragoon like he expected, I brought out Dranzer. I thought that Kai would at least stop for a second to think about what he had given up. Our friendship, Dranzer, our battles together…" He shook his head and his shoulders slumped.

"I guess…he wanted to be powerful in whatever way that he could. I -we didn't know. All that training we went through, I thought it was just because of the tournaments we were about to enter. Not…" The blue-haired blader sighed and scratched the back of his head. "He didn't seem the selfish type but I suppose it was just him lookin' out for himself the entire time.

"He barely even blinked. He just took out Black Dranzer and started the countdown. After that," Tyson shrugged. "Well, it's kinda obvious what happened. Dranzer lost easily. I had never used Dranzer before, but since I was used to Dragoon I thought it would be a similar feeling." He shook his head rubbed the back of his neck.

"Nowhere near. What I felt was just a regular 'blade without a bitbeast. What my beyblade had felt like before I found Dragoon. I'd heard that a bitbeast could power up a beyblade just by the confidence of the blader but powering _down_ so much that it was like a normal 'blade? I didn't think that was even possible. She was so…empty. That's the only way I can explain it." Tyson's voice had dropped to a whisper. "Any bitbeast against Black Dranzer would lose. So what chance did a 'normal' beyblade have? The one good thing that came out of it was the fact that the rest of us didn't lose our bitbeasts. He didn't demand another beybattle and for some reason, Black Dranzer didn't absorb Dranzer."

Judy was silent after Tyson had finished but then gasped at the concept he had just said. "That means Black Dranzer or Kai can choose what she absorbs."

Max nodded sadly. "That's what we thought as well. We figured that Black Dranzer or Kai felt that they didn't need -or want- the power of Dranzer."

"And you -none of you ever told anyone else what happened that day?" Judy was stunned at never knowing this information. What else did she not know? What else had she been oblivious to?  


  
:-:-:

__

Click.

Finally! Kai was stopped from smirking when Dranzer began to glow again. He looked at her oddly. Why was she doing that?

As he was rubbing his wrists, Kai asked absentmindedly, "Do you want me to get out of here or not?"

She didn't respond.

Frowning, Kai tried again. "Do you want me escape?"

A response.

"You want me to escape but not out of the building?"

Dranzer continued to glow.

Growling, Kai asked, "Why?" He knew that she wouldn't be able to answer him but he had to ask. "Fine," he snapped, more annoyed at himself than her for asking a question she wouldn't be able to answer. "There had better be a good reason though." He settled back on the bed, pretending that he was still restrained.  


  
:-:-:

"There wasn't any point," Max mumbled. "What we did made no difference."

Judy sighed, worried at the change in everyone. "But if that's the case, what does this have to do with the Kai that we have locked up down the corridor?"

"Apparently, everything," Tyson said. "'This' Kai seems to think that what happened at that lake ended differently. That instead of winning, he somehow lost. Everything else was the same, just not the ending. But how did it end up being different?" Tyson asked no one in particular.

"He said that Dranzer was pissed off at him," Tala commented quietly.

"But when I was controlling her, she didn't feel like that," Tyson protested, frustration showing in his voice.

Judy chewed on her lip and threaded her fingers together. "Would there be anyway that 'this' Kai could have gotten this information?"

The Bladebreakers shook their heads. "Not from us. Maybe from the real Kai but…" Tyson trailed off, thinking. "That's it. No one else could have told him. No one else knows." He suddenly looked thoughtful, tilting his head up. "There is Kenny, but he wouldn't tell anyone either."

"Where _is_ Kenny anyway?" Max asked.

"Out of the country, doing some research for my experiments here," Jusy supplied, grateful for the distraction no matter how small.

"Is that safe?" Hilary didn't want him getting hurt. None of them did. The numbers that they had to help was painfully small as it was, even a small drop could tip the scales even further. Kenny was their friend, the deaths always affected them but so far, they hadn't had anyone close to them die after Mr. Dickinson.

"He'll be perfectly fine," Judy replied. "It's not a dangerous place."

"Still…"

"I'm glad that you were able to work this out but you should have still come to me first." She gave them all a level stare. Under her gaze, they squirmed.

"We won't," they chorused.

"Good." She nodded. "Now go off and do something. Just don't go near Kai, okay?"

"Sure."

When they left, Judy leaned back into her chair again. This was all too much. There was only so much that the brain could process in a certain amount of time. Finding Kai yesterday was bad enough. Then seeing that he wasn't the Kai that they thought he was. And now maybe discovering why he was like that. But still not the how. No one knew. Not even her.

She suddenly tensed. That couldn't be it. Could it? There were the clues, it added up. But it didn't. It wasn't possible. Was it? There was always the theory but that was all it was. A theory. Nothing more. Right? Nothing had been proved as of yet, but how could someone prove…

* * *

Ah ha! I have finished! In a relatively short time, I might add. Though it could have something to do with the fact I'm on holiday. 'Cept I'm supposed to use this as study time. (Shrugs) I'm studying English. Yup! That's what I'm doin.

A mini cliffhanger. . _I might be able to explain what she's thinking in the next chapter. _

You'll hate me for this, but I've started up another fic. It's a Beyblade parody fic centred around Mary Sues and it might go around some of the Beyblade clichés. And the bad thing is, I've been writing **another **fic in the background as well. I've just never finished the first chapter. -.-' I started it around about October and I still haven't finished it.

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	11. Wondering

I've had to change my breakers because my old ones didn't show up when I updated. Hmm, this chapter is a little bit more philosophical than my earlier chapters.

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Wondering

* * *

Several hours passed.

The boys had gone back to the canteen to chat as the training area was still in need of repairs and considered dangerous. There was no way that they were going to be allowed to use it for anything. Hilary had gone by herself to visit the people who were still in the infirmary.

They still hadn't woken up, hadn't stirred, hadn't even twitched from their forced sleep. The only sounds that punctuated the silence were the beeps of the heart monitor and the respiratory systems hissing as they moved oxygen into their small bodies. Their chests were the only part of them that moved -not even their eyes, the part of them that could have indicated that they were dreaming, moved.

The fact was, they were hovering between life and death; their injuries were so severe. They looked so tiny, lying there, pale faced, swathed in bandages and barely moving. Seeing them like they were right now, however, seemed to mask that fact.

Yet, they had to only be about a year younger than Hilary.

Hilary felt rage welling up inside of her. They were good people. They had joined them willingly and this was their reward: a coma where they wouldn't be able to wake up from unless they healed completely or they died. '_Why did this have to happen?_' she wondered unhappily, rage fleeing as fast as it had come. By the time they woke up, their fight could have ended. They may never wake up. But if they did, what would they think? It could be _years_ before they had healed enough to wake up.

Hilary had read that people could be in a coma for several years. The time could range from a couple of days to years. Most people would lose hope for the person ever waking up by the time the fifth year had come and gone.

After doing a bit of research, Hilary was able to find out what made being in a coma so scary. It wasn't all about being in a coma, more of the effects and what happened while you were in the 'sleep of death'. While you were sleeping the time away, you wouldn't move and because you didn't move you would start to lose weight through the muscles not being used. The ligaments in your joints would shorten, tighten, or make your body appear as if it was a foetus in the stages before being born. Also, through the nature of the head injury –or general injury- if or when you woke up you could have different kinds of amnesia; Transient global amnesia, Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, Korsakoff's amnesia, retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia were the kinds of amnesia that you could end up having.

So what would happen if they _did_ wake up? Finding out that they had slept the days away, realising that they were no longer teenagers but actually considered adults because of their 'new' age? And who knew when their fight would end. Voltaire could be planning something that could wipe them all of them in one go. That was why Hilary was always nervous about coming back home; they were in an isolated ghost town where no one else that would get hurt. If Voltaire decided to drop a bomb or anything like that, no one would know. Even if there were people still living there, would he do it?

Yes, he probably would.

So, if that happened, they would die without knowing it. Maybe that would be better, not being able to see how you were going to die.

Was there a difference between being in a coma and dieing? Apart from the obvious –that one was alive and the other wasn't. If you were in a coma, did you know it? What about if you were dead? Did you have an out-of-body experience when you died, watching the people around you realise that you were no longer 'there' even though you were.

In a coma, you could (supposedly) hear the world around you. That was only a theory though. There were stories about how people had woken up knowing what had happened while they were sleeping because someone had told them events at their bedside. In death too, were you aware that you were dead? Did you haunt your family, wishing that you were with them, instead of being invisible, resenting your family for the fact that they were alive while you were not? Or did you see an endless expanse of darkness surrounding you? Or maybe there really_ was_ a God and you went 'up there' when you died. Maybe you had a different God and you didn't realise that you had died because you were being reborn again. Or you didn't believe in any God and it happened anyway.

What did you see when you were in a coma? Were you aware of it? Or was it just like sleeping? That you were aware one second, you feel your eyes droop and the next thing you know you're awake and several hours have passed in a blink of an eye. Sometimes with a dream included halfway.

They were like this because of Kai, Hilary thought angrily. If he hadn't gone to the Demolition Boys -if he hadn't betrayed his old team- they wouldn't be fighting him. She wondered if she and the Bladebreakers would have been friends if it weren't for Kai. She shook her head. No, they wouldn't be. She and Tyson just had to be in the same room together to start arguing. They still argued, but it was now friendlier and less heated. Their personalities seemed so different at that time and they didn't know enough about each other to guess otherwise.

Sighing, she remembered what she used to think of him: an idiot; a slacker; he never paid attention in class; his ego was the size of his body; he didn't take responsibility for his actions. The last one had always irked her to no end. Then when she had found out what he and the rest of his team were doing behind the scenes…It had taken some time but she was finally able to see past his happy demeanour and see what he was really like inside. Who would have thought that the boy was the complete opposite?  


  
:-:-:

"So boored."

"Tyson."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"But I am!"

"We _know_, Tyson."

"You've only mentioned that fact about twenty times already."

"Twenty-six, actually."

"See? He's bored as well!"

"Can't deny that."

"What do you want to do then?"

A snort. "Every time we suggest something, you don't want to do it."

"Well, you could come up with something else you know."

A brief pause.

"He said that last time didn't he?"

"Yeah, and what if I did?"

"Look at what we're doing."

"Huh? We're not doing anything."

"Exactly."  


  
:-:-:

Hilary's arms were crossed on top of the back of the chair while her head rested on them. She couldn't help but feel helpless. She couldn't do a thing to help the people in front of her. She wasn't a doctor; she didn't even know a lot of first-aid. She couldn't help the people to wake up but she doubted that they would even want to if they were in so much pain that they couldn't move.

So what could she do? Nothing, except watch over them.

"Hilary?"

Turning her head, Hilary saw that it was Dr. Wadeley. Hilary didn't know why but he always asked people to call him by his first name: Leo. She felt that if she had some sort of title she would want to tell everyone but he had insisted and said that he didn't want to be reminded as he felt that they were all equal.

"Hi." Even though it had been hours since the rush of trying to keep them alive, Leo still looked haggard and weary. He was of average height for his age (that was people had told her since no one had said how old he really was) and his build was a little on the thin side. Hilary knew that it couldn't have been because he wasn't eating enough because she had seen him eat and it was rather scary that he could eat nearly (nearly, definitely not the same as) as much as Tyson. Thankfully he chewed before swallowing.

"I think you should leave here," he said quietly, frowning.

Hilary's eyes widened. "What? Why?" she demanded.

Leo's eyes scanned the three people who Hilary had been watching for the last couple of hours. They rested on them for a few seconds before travelling to another prone body before finally turning back to Hilary. "You aren't doing them any good staring at them like this, hour after hour. All you're doing is putting yourself into a depression. I think I can make an assumption that no one really wants you to do that," he said gently, knowing what her reaction would be.

"I'm not getting depressed!" she denied vehemently.

His eyes still hadn't left hers. "Yes, you are. I've come here a few times over the course of the last few hours to check on my patients and you've been here, staring at them every time that I have. You didn't even know that I had been. I've also seen how your sitting doesn't help."

"What, don't tell me that you're an expert on body language?" Hilary said sarcastically.

Leo smiled at the remark. "No, but I _am_ an expert on the body and your body says that you're tired. At least get some exercise, you're bound to be stiff."

"But what if they-" she stopped when she saw that Leo was shaking his head.

"They won't. Believe me, they won't. It's only been a couple of hours; even if it had been a smaller explosion they would still be unconscious. And if they woke up now they would either go right back to sleep or I would have them sedated. It doesn't matter that their mind is fine; their bodies aren't so they need as much rest as they can get. So c'mon, shoo." He made some shooing motions with his hands.

Knowing that he wouldn't stop until she had left, she did what she was asked. She stood up and had to stretch quite a bit before her back clicked and it suddenly didn't feel so strange. Okay, maybe she _did_ need to move around a bit, if only for a little while. She rubbed her arms where they had been resting on the plastic and she knew without looking at them that they were going to be -or were already- red.

"No more delaying," he said while mock glaring. "I don't want to see you again until you're actually hurt or for at least three hours, you get me?"

She nodded and walked out of the room but not before having one last glance at everyone in there.  


  
:-:-:

"I know what we can do!"

"What?" The voice sounded wary.

"How about we explore?"

"We already have."

"Well, we haven't seen all the places here."

"Tyson..." A warning this time.

"What?"

"Do you remember what happened the _last_ time we tried exploring?"

"Uh…no?"

"How about we got ourselves lost and ended up wandering the corridors for over three hours!"

"Oh yeah! So…we're not going to explore are we?"

"No."  


  
:-:-:

  
_  
Tap tap tap_.

The sound of people pressing the keys of their keyboards surrounded her. It was a comforting sound for her but it also reminded her that they were in a room filled with computers that otherwise didn't make another sound. Everything seemed to be in running order. The screen in front of her pulsed with changing colours and statistics.

"Everything seems to be in running…" the voice trailed off. "Shit! It's losing power!  
_  
Tap-tap-tap-tap_.

The clicking pace increased.

"Power is decreasing dramatically! At this rate-"

No! They had checked everything, how could it _still_ be losing power like this? The statistics in front of her were dropping. Her own fingers added to the noise that was beginning to grow louder as every person fought to bring everything back to normal again.

They weren't successful.

In front of her, the numbers dropped to zero and the flashing stopped. Sighing in defeat, Judy asked out loud,

"Do we know what happened?"

There was a small silence before someone answered. "We need more power. I think this happens because the initial power strength is too small to support it so it tried to compensate by using its own and that burns out too quickly."

Judy sighed again. How could they get more power? If they used any more, it would look strange how a 'ghost town' could be using up so much energy. Was it entirely possible for it to happen? If Voltaire was able to do it…No. She wouldn't go down his path. She didn't know if it was easier but she wasn't going to do it.

Who knew what could happen if it went wrong.

* * *

_Yeah, I haven't updated and then I end it with a strange kind of cliffhanger. I don't know the next time I'll update (do I ever?) because I've got my exams in a couple of weeks. _

_I got most of my information about coma's from Stephen King's_ The Dead Zone_. It's not exactly supposed to be informative reading but it's still interesting if you like the paranormal stuff. Since the entire thing revolves around someone going into and coming out of a coma I should hope that the info is right!_

_I'm really bad at thinking up people's last name so Dr. Wadeley is from my Psychology course. She and Rob McIlveen investigated the relationship between beliefs about mental illness and attitudes toward it, if you're interested._

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	12. Explanations

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Explanations

* * *

Kenny sighed as he adjusted his backpack. Going to Egypt _had_ been fun, but how fun was it when you always felt the need to look over your shoulder? Just to make sure. Just to make sure that no one was following you. Just to make sure that you didn't recognise anyone in the crowds that you _knew_ shouldn't be there. Just to make sure that there wasn't a gun pointing at your back.

_Ping._

The noise brought Kenny out of his musings. He stepped out of the lift and nearly screamed out loud when he felt someone attack him from the side.

"Kenny!" He looked past his shoulder to see a beaming Tyson.

"Ack, Tyson! Don't_ do_ that!" Kenny put a hand over his wildly beating heart. "You promised that you wouldn't," he admonished.

Tyson grinned. "Aw, but Kenny," he whined, "you've been gone for _ages_! I was getting worried."

"Tyson," Kenny said, crossing his arms and tilting his head to look up to the taller boy, "what's wrong? You're not normally this bad."

Tyson's smile slipped a little bit. To people who didn't know him, it wasn't obvious but to the people who did, it was easily noticeable.

"What happened?" Kenny tried again.

At that, Tyson's face fell. He sighed and brushed his fringe out of his eyes. "A lot. And it's only been…over a day. Jeez, only? It doesn't feel like it."

"In danger of repeating myself, Tyson, what happened? You're not making any sense," Kenny asked patiently. It was rare to see Tyson troubled. To see him serious was more normal and he usually only seemed childlike and hyperactive amongst his friends. Kenny guessed that it was because he had grown up with most of them and that they were all around about the same age. Kenny also thought that it was because Tyson wanted to catch up on lost time. Time spent training wasn't for fun and tournaments anymore. It had ceased to be a long, long time ago. Now it was a desperate struggle to stay at a top level against something that was in a much higher league.

There had been too many casualties already. And the majority was from their own side. Whatever they did or tried to do, it never seemed to make a dent. They couldn't risk asking Tala to do some sabotaging as he would most probably end up being caught. No one wanted that.

Tala was rather high up in the ranking order and sometimes he wasn't sure whether the information that he had was known to the lower ranks. That was a problem since if they acted on that information and it was only the Demolition Boys who knew it, Tala was known for his reluctance. Similarly, Tala was high up in the ranking order of the Bladebreakers. If they -the Bladebreakers- could use Tala for information, so could Voltaire and Kai. They wouldn't ask him to do it either. Kenny shuddered at the thought of what they would do to him if they found out. And if that happened, would Tala be able to tell them or would he be bugged and if he tried to tell them, something else would happen…

Tyson opened his mouth and then he shut it, looking thoughtful. "I probably know the most about it but I suppose it'd be better with the others. More official anyway." '_Official? What-?_' "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. C'mon." Tyson grabbed Kenny's arm and start to drag him in another direction. "Let's go, Tala's here as well!"  


  
:-:-:

Kai drummed his fingers against his bicep. Apart from his eyes and chest, they were the only things about him that moved.

He was glaring at his beyblade and wondering what had possessed him to agree. Not that he could do anything else but wait, but why would Dranzer want him to wait out this joke? She knew just how much he hated being in them. His days at the Abbey hadn't exactly been fun-filled so, because of this, his sense of humour had suffered. But with Tyson's incessant prodding it was developing, albeit slowly.

Very slowly.

At least now, he was able to smile and it wasn't a smirk. It wasn't a full-blown smile like Tyson's (God forbid) or even a proper smile but it was at least a small one. A little quirk of the lips but it was certainly better than his signature 'death glare'. Especially on those with weak hearts. So, because of his time with the Bladebreakers, he gained a whole new facial expression. Not to mention their friendship.

So, it didn't look like Kai was going to get anymore little visits. Kai wondered why Judy had been so disapproving of what had happened. Maybe it had something to do with them actually being there in the room. He snorted. Of course it had something to do with them being there. Maybe she was the one who was behind all this and she didn't want them to have too many interactions in case he figured something out.

Whatever that was.  


  
:-:-:

"Ah, you found him," Judy nodded as Tyson with Kenny in tow entered her office.

"Yup. I didn't tell him either."

"What-" Kenny began and then saw that the rest of the Bladebreakers along with Hilary and Tala were occupying the remaining seats around the room. "What's going on? You can't be _that_ worried about me. I've only been gone for a week."

Max grinned cheekily. "'Cept you look like you've been gone longer with that tan. Or is it sunburn?"

"Both actually," Kenny muttered.

Hilary winced. "Ouch."

"But enough about that, I'll tell you about it later. Judy-" he started to rummage around in his backpack, "this is all the stuff we could find. Sorry, it doesn't seem to be a lot..." he finally pulled out Dizzi and handed her to Judy.

She nodded and placed her in front of her.

Judy glanced down before looking at Kenny. "I'll look at it later. First we need to tell you what you missed while you were away. You may want to sit down," she said, gesturing towards the chairs.

At that statement, Kenny frowned. It couldn't be that one of his family had died. Tyson had said that it happened yesterday and they would have contacted him immediately if that had happened. Was it something to do with Kai? Was that why Tala was there? Had he been found out? Tala didn't look like he had been hurt but that wasn't necessarily true.

Kenny took a seat in-between Ray and Max on the sofa. The other two seats were taken by Hilary and Tala, which left Tyson to lean on Judy's desk.

"Okay, I'm sitting._ Now_ are you going to tell me what happened yesterday?"  


  
:-:-:

Kai's eyes widened marginally when Dranzer started to glow. What was she trying to tell him now? His eyes then narrowed when she dimmed and began to glow brightly again. Dim-glow. Dim-glow. Dim-glow. They happened in rhythm as well. He took in a deep breath, wondering what she was doing when the rhythm quickened. With Kai watching, the rhythm then steadied back to its original beat. It was familiar, he _knew_ what it was but he just couldn't place what it was. It was also rather hypnotic, staring at it, seeing the super-imposed image before it came back again.

He wasn't sure why but he closed his eyes to think about it. Then he frowned when the image was still there in the darkness and that he could still see the light through his eyelids. That was when he realised. Without the distraction of seeing Dranzer glowing and everything else in the bare room, Kai noticed that the rhythm that Dranzer was doing was in accordance with his own heartbeat.

'_But,_' he wondered, '_why is she doing that?_'  


  
:-:-:

Judy nodded to Kenny's question. "Yesterday, just after nine O'clock we found Kai."

Kenny's eyes flicked to Tala. "Okaay. That's not so surprising."

"At the bridge."

Kenny started at the information. "What! How come you didn't know that he was here until he was _here_?" Kenny's voice cried out shrilly. Oh God, how many had been killed?

He was broken out of his thoughts when Ray tapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, okay? No one's died. No one was even hurt. We're all fine." He gave Kenny a reassuring smile.

"No one was hurt…" Kenny repeated, taking a deep breath. "He gave himself up willingly?" His voice was soft in the quiet room.

"He did. But that's when it becomes complicated." Judy blew some air through her teeth. "Kai wasn't wearing his usual attire; it was what he was wearing last year, when he was still with the Bladebreakers." She looked to the other people in the room for further explanations.

"Well," Tyson started, "Ray and me don't agree whether or not he acts the same as he used to. I can't really tell but that could be because I can't see through the little fact that he doesn't make sense."

Ray shrugged. "If you take that away, then he _does_ sound like the Kai that we used to know."

"What do you mean, he doesn't make sense?" Kenny asked.

Everyone's eyes shifted to Tala. Taking it as a signal, he began to speak. "They didn't make sense at first. Some parts still don't. Some of the stuff that he said was like he had had some damage to his brain."

"Like…?"

"Like, uh, saying that the last time we saw each other was two weeks ago when I saw him the day before."

"Like saying that his grandfather was in jail."

"Like asking what my name was."

"Like saying that he'd given Black Dranzer to _Mr. Dickinson._"

Kenny couldn't help it. When he'd heard the last statement, he felt his jaw drop and he turned to stare at Tyson.

"He didn't!"

Tyson nodded. "He did."

"But-but -!"

"Yeah, we know how you feel. We were the same when we found out. After that," Max shrugged, "we got bored so we decided to see if there was some sort of pattern to all of it."

"I figured out some of it but, as I said before, there's still some parts which don't make sense," Tala said. "Especially the timeline in relation to our own."

When nothing else was said for a minute, Kenny burst out, "Well? Aren't you going to tell me?"

There was a short pause before Tyson answered quietly, "It has something to do with Baikal Lake."

Kenny's eyes widened. "What? But that happened last year!"

Hilary shifted in her chair, her fingers clasped together. "That's what Tala meant by the time-line not making any sense. This Kai thinks that the World Championships were only two weeks ago."

Kenny clutched his head and groaned before sitting back on the sofa. "Please tell me you're joking. This person can _not_ be real. Why is he even still here? _Is_ he still here?"

Judy's eyes softened in sympathy. "He's still here. He's quite the enigma."

"But why is he still here then? _Just_ because he's an enigma?"

"Sort of. This is where things become even more complicated."

"Great," Kenny muttered to himself. He then spoke up. "Didn't it occur to you that this might not be the real Kai?"

Tyson snorted while the others grinned. "Pretty much as soon as we started 'talking' to each other."

"Same here," Tala agreed.

"Yes, it did," Judy said, nodding. "Especially when Tala told us that at the time we found him, he was just boarding his plane to come here and Kai was there to see him off."

"So w-"

She held up a hand to interrupt him. "Let me finish first Kenny, and then you can talk, okay?" He nodded. "Before we had found that out, I had decided to conduct a DNA test on him. His details could have been on a missing person's report. Though getting him to stop dressing as Kai could have been difficult. Actually, getting the sample was easy. He didn't physically resist in any way and opened his mouth without a lot of questions."

"Really?" That question was from all of them.

She nodded. "Really. He made a comment about how he was sure that he was healthy and that was it.

"What we found was that the Kai we've got isn't an impostor or anything like that. The DNA test proves that the Kai we know and this Kai are of the same."

Kenny's mind went into overdrive, thinking of all that he had just been told. "You said that you had found him around about the same time that Tala saw him…"

"Exactly."

"That should be impossible."

"Unless he teleported," Tyson said, grinning.

With an annoyed groan, Hilary walked over to Tyson and walloped him over the head with her hand. "Tyson, take this seriously! Everyone knows that's impossible."

He rubbed his head with one hand. "Ugh. Fine, fine. So now what do we do?"

"You can all leave; I still need to talk with Kenny about what he found," Judy said.

"Okay." The others nodded and left the room without another word.

After the door had clicked shut, Judy asked Kenny, "Do you still want time to get used to the idea? If I have any questions, I can ask Dizzi."

"Yeah, that would be good, thanks."

Judy turned her attention to the laptop in front of her. "Hello Dizzi," she said with a smile.

"Good afternoon Judy," Dizzi chirruped.

The next few minutes were filled with the tapping of the keyboard.

Kenny sighed and sat himself up properly. "It doesn't make sense. None of it does. I mean, I can guess what Tyson meant but how did that happen? This shouldn't be possible."

Judy paused and looked over the monitor of Dizzi. "I think I may have a solution, It makes as much sense as all the other information but it was all that I could come up with."

He leaned forward. "Oh? What do you think it is?"

"Well…"

* * *

_I am evil…Meh, it isn't that big of a deal. I just couldn't think of where to end it. Plus, you've prolly heard of it all before. (has low esteem) ;) _

_Hopefully there won't be anymore really long explanations that you readers know about._

_My exams have finally ended so my updates will be faster…I hope._

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	13. Possiblities

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Possibilities

* * *

"Well…" Judy hesitated before shaking her head. "No, maybe I shouldn't say. There doesn't seem to be any point in telling you. As I said, the idea isn't very scientifically sound." 

"Hmm." Kenny smiled as he relaxed slightly. "As if the information I've gotten from everyone else just now is 'scientifically sound'. Tell me, at least there will be one less option for me to think about."

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I just think that this Kai might not be originally from here."

Kenny refrained from mentioning the obvious fact that Kai was Russian.

"That's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with," she said, helplessly. "I've been thinking about it ever since he arrived and every other alternative is contradicted by something else. The other most plausible explanation would be that he has selective amnesia though that doesn't account for how there are now two Dranzers."

Kenny's eyes wandered as an idea filtered through his head. "You know, for all we know, there could be two of every bitbeast. One good, one bad; for balance. If that's true, those bitbeasts could have a telepathic link with each other."

Judy looked a bit sceptic. "Are you saying that it's the bitbeast that influences the blader?"

"I'm only saying this as I think of it," Kenny shrugged. "For example, look at how the Bladebreakers' lives changed when they found their bitbeasts. Or should I say, when the bitbeasts chose them.

"Tyson was able to win the competition that decided who would be in the Bladebreakers because of Dragoon. If it hadn't been for her, Tyson wouldn't have become famous." '_And he wouldn't be fighting here,_' they both added silently.

"Max was the same. Plus," Kenny tilted his head up to look at Judy, "if he hadn't gotten into the Bladebreakers, he wouldn't have visited you while we were touring America." He continued on, not letting Judy interrupt.

"When Ray was given Driger by Lee's grandfather, he left his village. He wanted to become stronger and make sure that he was worthy of being his blader.

"And Kai…I think when he first saw Black Dranzer…" Kenny's voice faded and he dipped his head. "I think that was when he ran away from the Abbey. He didn't really explain."

Surprisingly, it wasn't Judy's voice that answered him. It was Dizzi. "Well do you really expect a bitbeast to be content with battling in small competitions? We do have some pride, you know. We would only get a really good battle against another bitbeast. And since we can boost the power of a beyblade, it would only seem natural that the blader would also try to find harder competition."

"So a bitbeast _does_ change a blader's life," Judy carried on from what Dizzi had said, trying to distract Kenny from the past, "and if I'm interpreting you right Kenny, are you telling me that a bitbeast could be able to influence their blader's memories?"

"Um, well, you know when Tyson fought Kai in the World Championships?" Judy nodded." He told me that Dragoon talked to him, mind to mind. But if this was true, it doesn't say anything as to why Dranzer would have changed Kai's memory."

"Maybe to make sure that something like this," Judy waved her hand around herself, "doesn't happen twice."

"Er, as much as I would like to agree with you two, you've forgotten one teensy tiny point," the two humans heard the bitbeast say.

"And that would be?"

"Simple. You've accounted for the memories but have you accounted for the looks?" she quipped.

A double sigh.

"Dizzi, you're right. Kai doesn't have any siblings, let alone a twin brother," Judy said tiredly.

"Judy, you didn't explain what you meant when you said that you didn't think that Kai was from here," Kenny probed suddenly.

At this, she shrugged. "From the information that he have here, that was my only conclusion. I think that, Kai isn't from this Earth."

Kenny was about to reply when he realised what she had said. _This_ Earth. She didn't mean that Kai was some sort of green-skinned alien; on the contrary, Kai was from Earth…just not the one that they were standing on. It made perfect sense but it was also impossible.

Interworld travel? No, that _should_ be one of the things that stay impossible. The world that you live in is pretty much set. Once you've made a decision about something and follow it though, you can't go back. Even if you do something in the future to undo what you did, it doesn't matter. The 'damage' had already been done and the consequences have already happened. They might be good or bad; either way, it's nothing you can control. Something you do can change someone's life (even in a small way) on the other side of the world. So if something happens in your life, it could be because of someone else's influence, intended or not.

Sure, one-hundred years ago people were so sure that man couldn't fly. '_If God wanted man to fly, He would have made us with wings,_' was the common argument. And yet, in the here and now, thousands of people fly to and fro from country to country every single day and no one has sprouted any wings.

We used to believe that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that all other planets and the sun revolved around it. Everyone _knew_ that. We were the most important beings on Earth and in the universe. Before that, we also believed that the world was flat. If you sailed too far away in the wrong direction, you would fall off of the edge of the world. It was that simple. Of course, now everyone_ knows_ that the world is in a sphere shape and that it's the sun that everything else revolves around.

With those in mind, it could be easy to say that in another two-hundred years or so we would have just made a way to travel to alternate universes but we could do it like we travel on a place today.

But I doubt it.

Why? Think of how much energy it takes to send a shuttle into space. That's nothing compared to how much you would need for Interworld travel. With travelling into space, all you are trying to overcome is gravity. After that, you would be floating and you would only need a little bit of energy to move the shuttle.

On the other hand, with Interworld travel, you would have to break through not only your own world's physical plane, but also the world that you are trying to reach. So where could we get all this energy? Fossil fuels? The wind? The sun? Or all of them combined? Maybe we'll discover a new element or compound that makes all of the above obsolete.

There is also the problem of geography. Let's say that hypothetically we will be able to travel to other worlds like this. Now, I don't know if we'll be able to do this by sitting in a chair and then inserting the 'co-ordinates' into it and _poof_ you're there or if you're in some sort of plane and you have to reach a certain speed before you can travel off to wherever. Or maybe we'll have a choice between the two. Either way, you'll face the same problem.

Geography.

Just because the world that you come from is, say, all flat plains, that doesn't mean that the world you'll be going to will be the same. It could be _because_ of the difference in geography that the worlds are different. So you could be flying through the air and when you 'cross over' you crash into a mountain. Or if you're in the chair, who's to say that you won't end up being two miles above –or below- a sea. So how do you make sure that doesn't happen?

And then, you don't know what 'time period' you could end up in. Some worlds could have superior technology to your own and others are so behind that it's like the dark ages. With both, you would have to be careful. If you travel to another world that is superior to your own, you would have to make sure that you don't try to say anything too scientific in case you get laughed at for your backwards thinking. Okay, that isn't too dangerous… But what if you try handling their technology without knowing what it did. Now that could have disastrous repercussions. You obviously wouldn't have this problem if you went to a world that was inferior. With them, you would have to make sure that you hid all your little gadgets that you'd brought from the 'future'. If you didn't, you could end up being accused of being a witch. Or could be unfortunate to have coloured skin when slavery was the 'in' thing. Of course, you could just end up in a world where it was only marginally different to your own.

If we were to overcome those problems, then we could maybe do it.

With those thoughts still in his head, Kenny breathed, "You're saying that Kai is …technically an alien."

Judy nodded. "Yes."

"What you're saying has never been proved."

"Yet people acknowledge that they could really exist. That's the only idea that _fits._"

Kenny sighed. "I haven't had as much time to process this but I am going to have to agree with you. Unless he _is _a green-skinned shape shifting alien, he just _had_ to pick Kai to clone."

"There is that." Judy smiled wearily.

"Do you think he knows?" Kenny asked.

"Who?"

"Both of them. That this Kai knows that he has somehow travelled to another world and the Kai that we all know and love now knows that he has a 'twin' here."

Judy shook her head. "I doubt it. The Kai that we've got with us thinks that we're playing an elaborate and long prank on him." Kenny's eyes widened in surprise. "I think that's the only reason he came quietly with us."

"And if he was accepted back into the Bladebreakers, he wouldn't have a reason to distrust us," Kenny concluded.

"Exactly. If that were the case, it would have been the Bladebreakers who didn't trust Kai and not the other way around." Judy paused. "I think that's all that I wanted to talk to you about. I'll call you when I've finished reviewing that information." She nodded towards Dizzi to say that she wouldn't be asking any questions.

Kenny knew a dismissal when he heard one. "Okay." He stood up and started to walk away. When he had got to the door, he turned around with a gentle smile on his face. "I wonder how Kai will react when someone tells him that he's an 'alien'." The door clicked shut.

Judy stared at the door and then peered at Dizzi's monitor. "How indeed," she muttered.

  
:-:-:

"Kenny!"  
_  
Thump._

"Ack! _Tyson!_"

Tala, Ray and Hilary rolled their eyes while a laughing Max helped to untangle the combined mass of Kenny and Tyson.

They were sitting in the cafeteria as it was nearing lunchtime. Kenny thought that it was since he hadn't checked that time yet and he was starting to feel jet-lagged.

Tyson sighed. "You took such a long time in there with Judy that I thought you'd fallen asleep or something."

"And that's your reason to why you acted like hadn't seen me in a couple of months?"

Tyson grinned and nodded. "Yup!"

  
:-:-:

  
_  
Click._

Kai instantly uncrossed his arms and placed them behind his back. He briefly wondered if he should put Dranzer back into his pocket but the door had already swung open. Kai recognised the person who walked in; it was the person who had told Judy that she had an appointment the first time she had talked to him while he was in the cell. Surprisingly, no 'armed' guards followed him in. Maybe they had run out of money to pay for most of the actors.

"Hello."

"…Hello."

Silence. They both stared at each other. The man then sighed and leaned on the wall behind him.

More silence.

Annoyed, Kai asked, "Are you here for a reason? Or did you come here just to watch me?"

The man shook his head. "No. I needed to confirm something for myself." He started to fidget with the cuffs of his lab coat.

"Oh? To make sure that the _great_ Kai Hiwatari is here? Wasn't your glimpse of me two days ago enough?" Kai rolled his eyes but inside he winced. '_I've spent too much time listening to Tyson. Now all I need to do is laugh and rub my nose._'

The man was looking at him weirdly. "You know…"

"I sound like Tyson," Kai finished. "Don't I just know it. If I do that again, I don't know, hit me." He saw that the man was staring at him in something akin to shock. "What?"

"No-nothing. It doesn't matter," he waved his hands in front him. "Actually, I've got to go. I'm going to be in a meeting in a couple of minutes. Goodbye." With that said, he left.

It was only a minute after he had gone when Kai realised something. There hadn't been a click of the door closing.

* * *

_And tis done. Heh, you'll hate me or love me for that. _

_You can probably tell that Men in Black influenced my thinking of parallel universes a little bit._

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	14. Free

_Look! I updated in a short time! Just a word of warning, the times between the breaks aren't all consistent with each other._

_Gah. Again, this hasn't been beta'd. Damn e-mail…_

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Free

* * *

'_I can't believe it. He's _nothing _like the Kai that I've heard about._' Ben was walking quickly towards Judy's office. '_And there was me thinking that it was really Kai._' He shook his head slowly. '_Maybe that's why Judy stayed in there for so long. She knew that he wouldn't hurt her._' Ben also knew what her sense of curiosity was like; once she had found something that intrigued her, she wanted to know as much as possible on whatever it was. It was because of this that they had made a lot of their discoveries, but sometimes at the cost of Judy's health. 

"Ben!" Startled, Ben pivoted to turn to face the person who had shouted out his name. He smiled nervously when he saw that it was Judy walking up to him. She probably wouldn't be pleased when she heard that he had gone to see Kai without telling anyone. Not that he was going to tell her.

"Hi, Judy." He waited for her to catch up and then continued to walk on with her.

"I was just going to get some lunch before I dissect any of the information that Kenny retrieved for me," she said with a small smile, probably relieved that he had come back unharmed.

Ben's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Kenny's back? I thought that he wasn't coming back until…" he worked out the dates in his head, "today…Oh."

Shaking her head in amusement, Judy asked, "What have you been doing?"

He wondered where to start. There hadn't been much to do but Ben had researched what could have happened to Kai. Once he had finally found a somewhat plausible explanation he had rushed off to see the blue-haired blader if it was right. Finding that Kai had a completely different personality from what he had expected was a surprise though. Ben was so shocked that he wanted to ask Judy what she thought about it. She'd talked to him and maybe she had her own theory about it. Okay, his exit may have seemed a little strange to Kai but…Ben stopped dead in his tracks.

Confused as to why her companion had stopped, Judy turned around to look at him. "Ben? What's wrong?"

Unfortunately, he didn't hear her. All that he could hear was the three words in his head that seemed to echo. '_Oh my God…_'

  
:-:-:

"Muahahaha!"

A groan.

_Thwack.  
_  
"Ow! Hey, that hurt!"

"You don't have to gloat just because you got the last pizza."

A laugh. "Yeah, it's not like the rest of us need it or anything."

"Ray, they're picking on me again!"

"Now, now, kids. What have I told you about picking on people less intelligent than you?"

"Ha, that's you told. Wait…Ray, how could you? You're insulting Tala!"

"Hmph. No one said a thing about me."

Tyson pouted and crossed his arms, looking at his friends. "If you're all done, can I eat this now?"

They all smiled and nodded their heads. Tyson's pout turned into a grin as he started to eat.

Tala averted his gaze from everyone and started to finger the strap on his pocket that made sure Wolborg didn't fall out of his pocket by accident. He had been feeling restless for the last couple of minutes and he couldn't explain why. It wasn't a feeling that he could describe easily either; it felt like he had too much energy and all he wanted to do was pace it off. There was also a sense of uneasiness but he didn't have a clue as to _why_.

He shot furtive glances to the others and saw that they were oblivious to what he was feeling. Troubled, he frowned and cupped his chin in his hand. '_Something's wrong. I know that, but what? Is it just me?_' He stared at nothing for a moment, not thinking of anything. '_Maybe it has something to do with Kai._' Tala stopped his musings when he felt something warm on his thigh. He undid the strap and pulled out Wolborg, who by this time, the glow was already dying.

With Wolborg in his hand, he asked mentally, '_This is because of Kai, isn't it?_'

Wolborg glowed in response.

"Tala, what's wrong?" He looked up to see the faces of his friends looking worried.

"I, don't know. But Wolborg says that it's got something to do with Kai."

  
:-:-:

'_Well Dranzer, I can escape now but you don't want me to, do you?_' Kai asked, knowing what the answer would be.

There was no response.

Or not. '_You…want me to escape?_'

Dranzer glowed.

Kai could hear his clothes rustle as he shook his head ans snorted. '_Hmph. You should make up your mind. Or did you know that this was going to happen?_'

No response.

Kai sighed as he sat up. '_Sometimes, I just don't understand you. First you want me to stay and now you want me to go._' He snorted again. '_Whatever._' Kai stood up, slipped his fingers through the small gap of the door and pulled it at it slowly. It opened without a squeak. He poked his head out into the corridor to check if it was empty; it was. '_Now, how do I get out of here?_'

  
:-:-:

"What do you mean, it's got something to do with Kai?" Tyson demanded.

Tala bit his lip and replied. "I've just been having this weird feeling for the last five minutes and I didn't know what it was about. When my thoughts turned to Kai, Wolborg responded."

"I don't get it," Hilary said, frowing. "If something is happening to Kai, how would Wolborg know?"

Kenny's eyes widened in surprise. He had only developed the theory about bitbeasts being telepathic with each other only half-an-hour before and he was already finding some evidence that could support it. But… if that was the case, how come it was only Tala that felt something was wrong? Was he the only one with a strong enough bond with his bitbeast?

Tala shrugged. "Maybe it's because I've been with Kai for such a long time that Wolborg can tell when he's on the move."

"Or maybe, it's because Wolborg is following Black Dranzer's signature power," Kenny suggested.

They stared at him like he had grown another head.

Kenny flushed in embarrassment at the scrutiny. "What?"

"We didn't tell you, did we? The Kai that we've got here doesn't have Black Dranzer with him," Hilary explained.

"Well, he said that he gave Black Dranzer to Mr. Dickinson, didn't he?" Kenny reasoned. "That would be a good excuse as to why he doesn't have her."

Ray shook his head. "He doesn't have Black Dranzer with him but he _does_ have Dranzer."

"What?" Kenny yelled.

  
:-:-:

'_Heh. No one's about. Not even a guard._' Satisfied that he was alone, Kai slipped out of his cell and proceeded to backtrack to where he hoped was the exit.

After going around many corners, Kai had just turned at another corner when he heard someone following him from the corridor that he had just left. He cursed when he remembered that there were no shadows in the brightly-lit place to hide in. The only way he would be able to get by without being seen would be to run to the other end of the corridor and around the next corner. With nothing else coming to mind –he didn't know where to hide an unconscious body- he did just that.

As soon as he turned that corner, he was immediately faced with a set of double doors. Listening to the relative quiet around him, Kai scowled when he realised that whoever was in the corridor was still walking towards him and this time, he couldn't go anywhere apart from through the double doors.

He pushed them open and his eyes were greeted with the sight of a hospital ward. From what Kai could see, there were four people on the far side of the room linked up to different kinds of machines that made its own unique sound. They were also covered in bandages and more than one was sporting a cast.

Kai ignored them as he crouched by one of the empty beds nearest him. If his luck was really bad, he would end up being found by that person who he was running from. There was something wrong with the ward but Kai didn't waste any time thinking about it. A small breeze ruffled his hair.

'_Oh, come_ on!'

  
:-:-:

"But that's impossible! Judy has Dranzer!" Kenny cried out.

Ray turned to his blue-haired friend. "Tyson?"

Shrugging, Tyson said, "I don't know. I didn't get a close enough look before I got burned."

"What are you talking about?" Kenny asked, feeling a little lost at the turn of conversation.

Tyson scratched the back of his head. "Well, we were talking to him when Tala noticed what was on his lap. Eh…he wasn't answering our questions so I decided to swipe Dranzer to see what he would do. I looked at her but before I saw the picture clearly she burned me. Or he booby-trapped her," he muttered under his breath.

Tala was starting to get a little annoyed. "Guys, as much as I would like to continue this conversation, we should go and check on Kai."

"But we can't," Max reminded them. "We promised my mom that we wouldn't go near Kai, remember?"

"Didn't we say that if we wanted to see Kai, we had to ask her first though?" Tyson asked.

  
:-:-:

Peter sighed as he pushed the trolley down the corridor. This was getting a little bit too much for him. It was now the second day that he had been serving Kai his food and the stress was starting to _really_ build up in him.

He had heard the horror stories of what had happened the last time they were able to catch Kai. At that time, he hadn't joined them in their fight against Voltaire and the Demolition Boys. At that time, he had thought it was an elaborate joke when his kid had told him. Right, like someone could really take over the world using a toy. He had laughed, ruffled his hair and continued to play the playstation with him.

Oh, how wrong he was.

It was a couple of hours later when he saw the news bulletin. He had watched in open-mouthed shock as it showed the destruction that had been done by four kids.

Four _kids_.

And they were all less than half his age -the same age as his son. That was what had scared him the most.

He had shaken his head. How must have Voltaire felt? The poor man. How the hell did he end up making up a beyblade team that consisted of mentally unstable children with that amount of power without realising it? He had probably raised those kids from a young age and look at what they do. Those were some of the thoughts that had run through his mind when he first saw it. Peter had actually pitied him when he first saw it.

In the chaos, the Demolition Boys had somehow escaped without anyone know where- leaving their guardian to tell the authorities that he didn't have a clue that they were going to do that. It was only until Kai had sent them a letter (signed by the whole team) saying that the Abbey was just an orphanage and that the Bladebreakers were liars. The police bought it. No one questioned and so, the charges against Voltaire Hiwatari were dropped.

No one had asked why the Demoiltion Boys wanted their guardian cleared. No one had wondered why they had even bothered. They –_especially_ Kai- were cold-blooded murderers, why should they care about one other person? Or was it because Voltaire was 'good' and they were 'evil'? If that was the case, again, why did they help him? It didn't make any sense but since no one ever thought about it properly, it didn't matter.

Peter had wanted to help somehow, but what could he do? He was only a qualified chef and that was it. Anyway, the proper authorities could handle it, couldn't they? That was what they had been trained to do.

And yet, here he was, working against Volitaire with what he had originally regarded as useless in fighting. If people didn't get proper nourishment, they wouldn't have energy, and if they didn't have energy they wouldn't be able to fight. So really, everyone was important, there wasn't a person who was completely independent of needing help.

Ironically, he had gone to Judy to help where he could against the Demolition Boys and now he was working with one of them. Not that he had actually worked with Tala; Peter had seen him walking down corridors, usually in a group that was made up of the rest of the Bladebreakers and Hilary but he sometimes wandered the corridors alone.

Peter had joined with them when Matt had died. Matt had only been thirteen-years-old when it had happened. Peter's wife had died when Matt was only five because of a drunk driver. She had been working late and she had decided to walk home. He didn't think that she even knew that it had happened. The paramedics had pronounced her head at the scene and said that it had happened instantly. Later, he's heard that the driver had committed suicide.

After the funeral, he moved house to get away from the haunting memories. He didn't want to raise Matt if all he could think about was Jen; it wouldn't be fair to him. Then, years later, he would lose another loved one. With no one else for him to care for, Peter decided that he didn't want other parents to know what it felt like to lose their child. He wanted to help, no matter how small the job was.

It had taken a few months before he found Judy. He had offered his services to her and she had accepted. He didn't know if it was Tala who had killed Matt but if it was, he wouldn't do anything anyway. Tala was with them because he wanted to be; he didn't agree with Hiwatari's morals and wanted to end it. The boy had enough guilt to live with (even though he didn't show it), Peter didn't want to add to it. Peter didn't know all of the reasons why Tala had joined them in secret but since they were on the same side, it would do no one any good if there were fights between themselves.

Peter stopped when he came to the right cell door. He was about to grab the keys that dangled from the trolley's side when his hand was grabbed by one of the guards. Before he could open his mouth, it was covered. When he made eye contact with the one who was holding him, the hand was taken away slowly and then pointed to the door.

That was slightly ajar.

Before Peter could react, the three men (they had never told him their names) slipped in, safety catches clicking off. They reappeared seconds later, one of them with a walkie-talkie in his hand that was already hissing static.

"Kai has escaped. I repeat; Kai has escaped."

Peter's eyes widened and he felt his legs shaking. '_No…_'

  
:-:-:

The door swung shut on more time.

Kai watched from beneath the bed as the shoes clicked past. He saw them pause at the foot of each of the beds that were occupied before they disappeared through another door on the other side of the room.

He waited for a moment to make sure that the person didn't come straight out again. Kai slid himself out, glad that hospital beds were so high that it wasn't a problem getting underneath or out.

Once he was clear of the bed, he checked the door again. There wasn't a windowpane on the door nor were there any windows on the wall, which was surprising. So unless the person opened the door, he or she wouldn't know that Kai had even been there.

Not knowing when the person would come out, Kai slipped out as fast as he could.

When the beeps and wheezings of the machines reclaimed the otherwise silent room, it was broken once more by a body moving in one of the beds. The body then stopped moving and the machines continued to watch over them.

  
:-:-:

"You know, I didn't see mom in the cafeteria," Max pointed out worriedly.

Kenny shrugged. "I gave her some new information about bitbeasts that I'd found in Egypt. You know what she's like when she finds something new."

Max frowned as he thought about it but then shook his head. "I _do_ know what she's like but she doesn't become so focused on it that she forgets to eat."

"Kenny, was there anything big in what you found?" Ray asked.

Kenny shook his head. "No. It was only little things that we already knew. Nothing to cause her to forget lunch."

"So why is she so late?" Max wondered.

  
:-:-:

Kai was back to sneaking down the corridors and this time, he was making sure that he listened for any indications that someone was approaching.

That was surprisingly easy.

For one, because of the tiled floor, it threw up nearly every sound that went on it unless you were wearing sneakers. That seemed to be the only shred of luck that Fate was willing to hand him. And the fact that everyone else seemed to be wearing formal shoes. For the second point, there was hardly anyone wandering the hallways anyway. It was just his bad luck that he had ended up in the hospital ward place with a doctor coming back from his lunch break. For such a large place, there wasn't a lot of people around. Or most of them were probably in a meeting in one room and sooner or later, Kai was going to stumble across it, knowing his luck at the moment.

One of the problems was that he had to keep in having to backtrack for every three corners that he came across because he kept on somehow finding dead-ends with a single door somewhere.

Kai paused when he reached another corner, he wasn't sure but he thought that he'd heard some voices speaking in low tones. A few more seconds but there was nothing more. Wait…was that a scuffing of a shoe? It sounded faint so Kai decided that the person was walking away.

He had taken all of three steps into the 'open' when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Kai!"

'_Shit._'

  
:-:-:

"Maybe she's comin' down the corridor right now," Tyson said, trying to cheer up his friend.

Max sighed. "I think I should check on her. If she _has_ forgotten the time then…"

"How about we all go?" Ray suggested. "That way, we can make sure that Judy's alright and we can ask if we can go to see if something's happened with Kai."

They nodded in agreement.

"Sounds great! C'mon you guys!" Tyson was already standing and looking back at them by the door.

"What? Aren't you going to finish your pizza first?" Hilary asked teasingly.

Tyson rolled his eyes. "I don't _just_ eat ya know. I'm not obsessed with it," he groused.

"You could have fooled me," Tala joked.

"Well, I'm not hungry any more so the rest of you can shut up now."

Max grinned while Tala pretended to clutch his chest. "Tyson isn't hungry! It's -I don't know what to say. I never thought that I would see this day. I have to be dreaming."

Hilary had her hand covering her mouth, trying to not laugh out loud. It was rather unfortunate that he shoulders were visibly shaking. Max's grin had widened and Ray was chuckling.

"Oh, laugh it all up why don't ya," Tyson said while shaking a fist in Tala's direction. "Just you wait, I'm going to get you back for this one way another."

"Hey!" Tala protested. "How come you threaten me when I tease you once but you hardly do a thing when Hilary does it?"

"It's because he's scared of what I would so in return," Hilary said smugly.

Tala looked at her critically. "Maybe he doesn't because he likes you."

"I _what_?"

  
:-:-:

Judy was rubbing her temple in a desperate bid to stay away the headache that she knew would come in time.

"Did you know that I had to tell the Bladebreakers, Hilary and Tala not to go and see Kai without telling me yesterday? Now, I understand that I may have had to tell them that because they're impulsive kids. You, on the other hand, aren't a child. You should know better, especially when you know what Kai can do."

"But-" Ben was silenced by a sharp look.

"Not only do you go to Kai's cell without telling anyone, you leave the door open. Open. Not just unlocked but open."

Judy stopped speaking, waiting to see if he would say anything in his defense. When he didn't, the silence stretched uncomfortably.

Ben's face had already heated up some time ago and he was mostly avoiding Judy's gaze. He shuffled his feet, shifting his weird from one foot to the other. When he heard her sigh, he lifted his head to listen.

Judy's eyes then travelled to look at something behind him. "Kai!"

'_What?_' Ben spun around to face what he had unleashed in their base.

* * *

_And 'tis done. : D I finished a chapter in a really short time!_

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	15. Not A Joke?

_I'm finally back after several months of non-writing. This story anyway._

_Sorry for the long wait, hope this is worth it._

_Enjoy._

_

* * *

_

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Not a Joke?

* * *

Tyson was being held back by Kenny and Max while Ray watched them wearily. Tyson was trying to push past them to get to Tala who was still smiling at him.

"I was only making an observation. I didn't know that you were going to overreact," Tala said airily, his grin widening even more.

"I do _not_ like her! Why would I?" Tyson yelled. "She's such a brain. Who could like someone like that? Anyone?"

Tala's eyes had widened and he was backing away instantly. Yes, he was scared if Kai -who wasn't?- but at least he was semi-predicable. Girls, on the other hand, were something completely different. Especially the ones that had their 'time of the month' really bad. Thank God it wasn't that time at that particular moment or else they would have to scrape pieces of Tyson off the ceiling.

The other obviously felt them same as they were starting to back away as well.

"Tyson!" Hilary shrieked. "What did you mean by _that_?"

He froze. "I-uh...It doesn't matter," he managed weakly.

"Oooh!" Hilary glared at Tyson while her hands balled into fists by her side. "_Really_? Or are you saying that so that you don't end up digging yourself a deeper grave? Wow, you actually showed a little tact -_after_ saying one of the most tactless things ever."

"Eh, um, you know, we should really go and see Judy," Tyson tried to distract Hilary, "because something might have happened to Kai."

Hilary shook her head. "Ho, no. You're going to explain what you meant when you said that, basically, no one could like me."

Normally, when Tyson's tongue slipped and landed him into hot water, Tala would have already left the room or wherever to let the two work it out. Or have Hilary yelling at Tyson for about an hour; they were the same thing really. Unfortunately, Tyson was blocking the only exit. If he tried to slip past, Tyson would probably latch onto him for help. That, or to get him back for the comment that started the whole mess. Maybe if he ran...

"We should check on Kai," Tyson tried to distract Hilary again.

"No, _we_ don't. _We_ can let the others go to Judy while we finish this."

"But Hilary-!" She glared at him until he stopped talking and moved away from the door.

Tala exchanged glances with the others. When they shrugged -it wasn't as if they could help Tyson, really- they left the room quietly together -just in case Hilary changed her mind.  


  
:-:-:

Kai had two choices: wait for Judy to walk up to him or run. If he ran, there was no doubt that he would end up becoming even more lost than what he had been previously. If he stayed, now that Judy knew he was out, maybe she would finally explain what this was all about.

He sighed. Mr. Dickinson was always telling him to trust adults more anyway. Either way, he kept an eye on the man that was with Judy since he looked like he was going to bolt for some reason. He watched Kai like the men who served and guarded him: like Kai was going to attack them unprovoked.

"How did you get out?" Judy asked Kai as she neared him.

"He left the door open," Kai replied, indicating the man standing next to Judy.

Kai saw the man flinch and wondered why. Apart from the fact that Kai was apparently meant to be under lock-and-key and he was the one to free him completely unintentionally and Judy seemed to be the one in charge of everything there. There had to be another reason for the man reacting the way that he did.

"Kai, I think we need to talk."

"Oh good, you're going to tell me that you're going to stop pretending."

"Excuse me?" the man asked incredulously.

Kai crossed his arms. "This..._joke_ has been going on for nearly two days now. I am aware that Tyson is always complaining about my lack of humour -and ability to take a joke- but this is stretching my limit."

The man clenched his jaw and his hands balled into fists by his sides. "A _joke_? What do you mean you-" He was thankfully stopped from continuing his triad by Judy's hand ordering him to. So used to following her orders without question, he shut up instantly.

Waiting a moment to make sure that the man wouldn't start up again, Judy gave Kai a look that he supposed was meant to be one of requesting him to at least listen. He returned it with a flat one. She continued on anyway.

"Kai, please, will you at least let me try to explain?" she asked.

He snorted and turned his head away from her. "I've been wanting that from the start."

Nodding, Judy said, "I understand. I'm sorry that it's taken this long but there have been a few problems."

"Such as?"

She was quiet for a few seconds, maybe debating whether to tell him or not. "I'll tell you when we get to my office." Judy then turned and started to walk towards her office and didn't wait for the two men to start following her.  


  
:-:-:

"Do you think we should wait?" Ray asked Tala as they got further away from the doors.

Tala winced as he heard some of the muffled shouts, even from the distance that they were at. "I don't think they'll be coming out any time soon." The distance really didn't seem to do anything. If anything, it was like they actually getting closer if the sounds were any indication.

"Well, I guess that means that we should go and check up on my mom then," Max suggested.

Ray and Tala nodded.

"You guys, I need to go off to the labs, I'm pretty sure that there was something that I was intending to do there before I left," Kenny said.

Tala gave him a look. "You've been gone two weeks, don't you think that might be bad?"

Kenny laughed nervously. "I know, I hope it isn't something that goes off or has a deadline."

Ray shrugged. "Okay, so go because who knows what could have happened."

"Right, see you guys later." With a wave, Kenny was off down the corridor.

"We'd better go and see mom then."

"Let's just hope that she hasn't already left and we end up missing her."

Groaning, Tala said, "How will we know if she's just left or if she's in the lab? Go back and forth to each place?"

Max shrugged. "We won't know unless we go and look."

As they set off Tala muttered to himself, "You've been here for who knows how many months now and you _still_ haven't set up anything to communicate between rooms that isn't for emergencies?"  


  
:-:-:

Judy glanced at Dizzi while she sat down. She was now glad that she had folded the monitor because if she hadn't, she knew that Dizzi would have started to talk to her. Judy didn't know how Kai would have reacted (he was still friends with Kenny and Dizzi wasn't he?) but it would at least take care of some of the awkward questions for now.

Judy waited for Kai and Ben to sit. "Now, Kai," she started, "I won't claim to know everything but I'll try to answer as best as I can. I know that a lot of this won't make sense but that's what I know okay? To my knowledge, I'm telling the truth and the joke is over, no matter how far-fetched it seems."

Kai nodded slowly in acknowledgment.

She placed her forearms on the desk and threaded her fingers together. "So what do you want to ask?"

"Why are you doing this?"

Judy frowned in confusion. "This? What do you mean by 'this'?"

"You said that the joke is over and you want to explain it to me -why did you play such an elaborate joke in the first place?"

Judy quickly glanced in Ben's direction to make sure that he wasn't about to say anything before looking back to Kai. "Kai, I'm not sure how to say this but this is a huge misunderstanding. There was never a joke to start with." Here, Kai raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything to interrupt. "I'm sure that you've noticed that a few things are off, even for a joke." He nodded slowly. Judy took a deep breath, to stall and to try and steady her nerves. "You're on a different world to your own -a parallel world."  


  
:-:-:

"I hate it here," Tala mumbled to himself

Max still eard it though. "Why is it, Tala, that you can only find some of the rooms and not others?" he asked, countering the statement. They were currently walking in the direction of Judy's office but Tala felt thoroughly lost.

"It's because I'm normally only here for a short while and I usually go straight to Judy's office," Tala answered. I know that path easily enough but only from the elevator. From anywhere else, I could probably find it but not as surely."

"But you knew where Kai's cell was," Ray pointed out.

Tala shrugged. "I know part of the layout and I memorised the part where Kai was; force of habit." Since Tala was on their side, he had to make sure that he knew where Kai was while he was 'researching' and making phone calls. He didn't want to end up like Alexander. "Not to sound like Tyson, but are we nearly there yet? I don't remember it taking this long."

Max laughed and smiled. "Yeah, we're nearly there. Hey, how long do you think you'll be able to stay?"

Another shrug. "If I'm extremely lucky, I'll have a week; if I'm not, I may leave as soon as tomorrow."

Both Ray and Max nodded, knowing a little bit how Tala's time was spent rushing around from area to area. "Okay."  


  
:-:-:

"I'm from a different world?" Kai repeated, his voice flat.

Judy nodded, watching the blue-haired blader closely. She stayed quiet, waiting for him to say something else.

He frowned and closed his eyes. '_Why does that make so much sense? It would explain why nearly everyone looked different and were saying things that I know aren't true. But then, if this isn't a joke..._' "What's Tala doing here?"

Just looked a little startled at the question. She probably didn't expect him to adjust to the statemnt so quickly. "Well-"

"Why do you want to know why I'm here Kai?" a new voice answered for her. Kai opened his eyes and looked around to see Tala, Max and Ray standing in the doorway. He glanced away again, not particularly bothered by their presence.

"You're just one thing, along with the rest of this, that doesn't make sense. Why are you working with the Bladebreakers?" Kai said.

Tala glanced at Judy for reassurance and in return, she cleared her throat. She instantly got the attention of everyone in the room. "I'll explain it as best as I can. Ray, where's Tyson and Hilary?"

Ray gave her a nervous grin while his eyes kept on flicking back to Kai. "Tyson made the wrong kind of comment again; he and Hilary are arguing in the cafeteria."

Judy sighed resignedly. "I suppose it couldn't be helped. Now-"

"Judy! Judy!" Kenny's panicky voice could be heard coming from behind the door. Tala, Ray and Max moved into the room to let Kenny through. He bent over, with his hands on his knees, panting. "I just heard that Kai's escaped!" He looked up to see her reaction and saw Kai sitting in one of the seats. Kenny instantly back-peddled a few steps. "Eheheh, you know then..."

Kai watched this with interest. Kenny had never shown that he was scared of him before. Maybe in the first week that they'd met but that was justified.

"Yes. Now, why don't you take a seat?" The four boys glanced uneasily at each other.

"I won't bite you," Kai said, showing his teeth a little bit in a smile. He was amused to see that it made the boys even more jittery.

"Okay ... but who's going to be standing?" Max asked. In the room there was a sofa and two extra chairs - two of which were already occupied.

"I will," Tala offered. "I usually stand anyway."

Judy waited for the boys to get comfortable and to start looking at her instead of staring warily at Kai; he was pointedly ignoring them. "I was about to explain to Kai a few things," Judy said. She nodded to Kenny. "You know what I'm talking about." Kenny uneasily nodded back. "Kai, could you tell me what you know about here so that I won't unnecessarily repeat it?"

He blinked, the only response that he gave. "From what I've been told, Mr. Dickinson is dead, my grandfather isn't -and never was- in jail," he paused, "and for some reason, I have bodyguards."

Judy nodded. "It's all true."

"Mr. Dickinson isn't dead and I would have been told if my grandfather had escaped!" Kai snapped at her. "I have never had any bodyguards," he added.

Judy held up a placating hand. "Kai, remember what I said just before Tala and the others came in?" Kai nodded. "That answers your question, doesn't it?"

"So everything is going to be explained away by saying that I'm from another world then, is it?" Kai asked sarcastically.

"What!"

"No way!"

She looked at Ray and Max's shocked faces. "Yes, that's what I told them: he's from a parallel world from this one. I think I know the instance of when Kai's world changed from ours."

"It doesn't explain the difference of time though," Tala said.

Kai glanced at Tala. "Time?" he prompted.

Tala shifted uncomfortably under his cool gaze. "Yeah. You said that it was only two weeks since the World Championships but for us, that was last year."

Judy was quiet before saying, "That can be explained because we can't assume that every single world is exactly the same. If that were the case, there would be two identical worlds. If one world goes through time a little slower, it means that it wouldn't collide with the world that it was 'following'. If we continue this on, it could mean that Earth is the slowest of all the planets in traveling through time because we are the only planet left living in this universe. Also, it says that if we were able to travel from parallel world to another, we would be able to go a little forward or back in time but to hypothetically travel a thousand years into the future would most probably drain us of all our resources."

"If there's still an Earth here in a thousand years," the man muttered darkly.

"I suppose but there has to still be an Earth somewhere in the future," Max said optimistically.

Kenny pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I think we can safely assume that there are thousands of Earths. Every single decision that we make changes the future; there are over six billion people on this planet, every one making choices that can influence the future."

"That sounds nice," Kai growled, "but does that explain why I'm here?"

"No, it doesn't," Judy admitted. "If you were to tell us the last thing you remember before you came here, maybe we could mimic it and get you back home."

He snorted. "I would rather not. You see, Tyson had challenged me to a beybattle because I had been annoying him. When the idiot launched Dragoon he didn't just miss the beydish, he somehow managed to hit me square in the forehead."

At this, the man started laughing, clutching his sides.

Gritting his teeth, Kai ignored him. "When I woke up, I was here." He smirked at a new thought. "I'm sure that Tyson would be _happy_ to help me get home."

Judy shook her head. "I'll only use that as a last resort."

"Fine."

The man was still trying to rid himself of the mental image. Kai really wanted to hit him because the snickering was getting a little distracting.

"Are you going to tell me what the Kai from this world is like? If you imprison me because you think that I'm this world's Kai, I want to know what he did," Kai asked.

Max looked at him curiously. "Why?"

Kai shot the tittering man a look. It would have been easier to say if he wasn't there. Slightly. He knew them all, even if it was on the technical side. He crossed his arms and made sure that he wasn't looking at anyone when he said it. "Because...because I wouldn't want to lose your friendship." There. He'd said it. The leader of the Bladebreakers finally showed that was actually able to get attached to people. Now, if he could actually say that to the people that mattered...If the Tyson that he knew was there, he was sure he would have said something cheesy and tried to give him a hug. Which would have been deftly blocked. At least that guy had stopped laughing.

The silence dragged on and Kai still refused to look at anyone, giving off a warning with his body language that he wouldn't take it if anyone made a negative comment of what he'd just said.

"Um, it's okay," he heard Judy say. "It's already happened. I think you know the point of time where our world's split from each other."

He nodded. He had known as soon as she said there was a time that their worlds were the same. Tala telling him about the time difference was another hint.

At the time just before Kai was beaten by Tyson and Dranzer on Baikal Lake it seemed obvious that Kai would win.

But he didn't.

There had been a lot of 'What if-?' questions in Kai's life but that was the biggest one by far. He never dwelled on what could have happened if he had won and now, it seemed as if he was forced to know now.

"I won the match again Tyson here," Kai said in a monotone. "What happened afterwards?"

Here, Tala winced. "The Demolition Boys won the World Tournament and that's when we attacked. Voltaire wanted us to test the true power of our bitbeasts -a lot of people died that day, Mr. Dickinson included." He paused and saw Kai listening with a blank face. "We escaped and then sent a letter to the police telling them that Voltaire was innocent and because of that, he didn't go to jail. Since then, he and Kai have terrorised the beyblading world behind the scenes and they can't do anything as there's no proof and if someone spoke up, in the very least, their beyblade would be taken.

"I'm here because I didn't like being a part of that group. Even though I grew up with everyone there, I want to bring it down."

"I knew that it would have been bad if I had won," Kai said quietly, "but I didn't think it would be like that." He was quiet for about a minute before he started to frown. He looked to Judy. "What happened to Dranzer?"

Judy gave him a small smile. "I think I should show you."

* * *

_And 'tis finished. And I think it sucks. It's all dialogue and words are repeated a lot of the time. Nothing seemed to really happen in this as well. (sigh) Waaaa, Kai's personality seemed to switch didn't it? I'm saying it's because the stress and the 'different' people. Ah, and if you're wondering about that comment that Kai made about 'the people who matter', it's not yaoi, it's just him meaning if only he could say to his real teammates that he didn't want to lose them.  
_

_Well, I'm complaining but I always complain. Hope you liked it and thanks for the reviews._

_Until the next time (which hopefully won't be as long as this time)_

_Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things.__  
_


	16. Interesting

_:) A fast update! It won't happen again though since I'm going back to school on Monday._

_Again, just to make sure that you know, there isn't any romance in this fic, no matter how much I hint at stuff.  
_

_Oh, if anyone knows/remembers the name of the city that they're in at the moment, can you tell me? And I'm not sure if the Dranzer's are right. You'll see when you get it.  
_

_Just for you people who probably don't remember, Leo is the doctor._

_:) Thanks for giving one hundred reviews to this fic. It's really appreciated__.  
_

_Enjoy._

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Interesting...

* * *

"Where do you think they went?"

Hilary felt a vein in her forehead twitch and supressed her urge to hit Tyson across the head. "Tyson...you were trying to convince me that going to Judy's office was more important than our discussion and now you can't remember?"

Tyson chuckled and scratched his cheek. "Oh yeah. Do you think they'll still be there?" he asked out loud, not really directing the question to Hilary.

Hilary shrugged. "If Judy allowed them to go, they could be seeing Kai right now."

"Pfft." Tyson rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. I don't think she'd have let them see him by themselves."

Hilary listened to the little voice in her head; the back of Tyson's head was hit lightly by Hilary's hand. "The reason why she wanted us to tell her was because she could then get us a guard or something when they saw Kai."

"Ooh. I geddit now." He smiled and nodded in understanding.

Hilary sighed. Why was it, that he always acted like a total goofball when he was here? Everywhere else, even in places like Ray's home village, he was so serious. Sure, he smiled but that was usually when he was just with his friends. Hilary looked up to the lights overhead and as they passed under the lights burned into her eyes and gave an afterimage for the light after it. While they were here, they kept mostly to themselves but Tyson was notably friendlier to the other people around him. Was it because this was where he felt the most familiar with, the safest? Hilary thought of Ray and saw that it was the same for him. The only difference was, since Ray had lived in Beycity for a while Ray was friendlier in both his homevillage and beycity.

"Hey, Hil'?" Tyson's question brought her out of her musings.

"Hmm?"

"You okay?"

She thought of what she had just been thinking about. He always seemed to know when she was down. It was just too bad that he normally didn't think before opening his mouth. But...that was better than seeing him serious all time.

"Yeah."  


  
:-:-:

Kai was sure that he didn't like the labs. There were far too many machines that beeped, whirred and flashed lights that covered up other sounds. Apart from that, no one spoke giving the room a sort of eerie feel. The group walked past the machines and other people without disturbing anything or talking to anyone. No one looked up from their desks or computers and so didn't see or know that Kai was in their midst. Or maybe they just didn't care. Like that was true, considering how other people had reacted to seeing him.

They reached the other side of the lab and, after waiting for a moment for Judy to use her swipe-card to open the door, they trooped into a new room.

This room was small and dimly lighted except for the one light that concentrated in the middle of the room. What the light was concentrated on was a podium and on that podium was,

"Dranzer," Kai breathed.

Judy nodded, her eyes softening at the sight. "Yes, that's Dranzer. Although, for some reason, we can't get any kind of reaction out of her." Judy sighed almost resignedly. "No one and nothing can get her to come out."

Tala looked at Judy from the corner or his eyes. "Is that what you've been experimenting on?"

"Uh-huh."

Kai paid no attention to them. He felt a warmth in his trouser pocket and without thinking, he slowly approached the podium.

Judy shook her head. "It just feels like we've tried everything. We've been trying to artificially summon her without success. I would have asked one of you to try launching her but since she didn't react to Tyson the first time, there didn't seem to be any point."

The other Dranzer was so close. '_Why,_' Kai's mind thought muzzily, '_why am I doing this? I've already got Dranzer._' Still, it felt like he had to hold the other Dranzer in his hand. Something was calling him...telling him...

"I suppose so," Ray said with a sigh.

"However, I think-"

"Hey!" Ben cut in. "Don't go near that!"

Quickly glancing up, Judy saw that Kai was about to step onto the podium. "Kai, don't! It's protected against; you'll be electrocuted!"

But he paid no heed. He couldn't hear them. All he knew was that he was to get the other Dranzer. He only slightly noticed the warmth in his pocket spread but he didn't notice the red light that suddenly appeared. The thing that he was focused on was right in front of him. So close...

He touched the podium.  


  
:-:-:

Tyson sighed as he walked down the corridor. No sign of Judy in her office. That really only left the infirmary, labs and the toilet. She wouldn't be at the labs because she had left Dizzi in her office and Tyson didn't see a reason why she'd be at the infirmary. Sure, she was the leader and all, but she was busy a lot and didn't have a lot of time though she always spared at least a few minutes for the Bladebreakers.

"Hilary?" Tyson asked, putting his hands behind his head.

She looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Do you think Judy went with the others to see Kai?"

Hilary frowned at herself, thinking it over in her head. "I suppose she might have, but it wouldn't have just been her. She'd have gotten a few guards to go with them as well."

Tyson was silent for a moment before coming up with another question. "Do you believe that Kai when he says that he lost to me on Baikal Lake?"

Sighing, Hilary said, "I don't know." She looked at him closely. "Are you-"

"No! I'm-" He was halted from continuing because the lights above them flickered. It only lasted for a few seconds before it stopped and the lights went back to how they were normally.

Both of them stopped walking to stare at the lights. They kept on staring for another minute to make sure that it didn't happen again.

Tyson asked the inevitable question, turning to Hilary. "What made them do that?"  


  
:-:-:

With his hands on the podium, ('_Close. Just a little bit more..._') Kai had both his hands and Dranzer in his field of vision. He saw that he was glowing; he wasn't just glowing, it was like he was able to see his own aura or the body's energy. His mind dismissed it however; the fact that he was glowing didn't matter.

"Wha-! Judy, I thought you said-"

"It is! Can't you see the sparks?"

Kai reached forward and gently picked up the blue and red beyblade. At the same time, he stepped away from the podium. Staring at it, he dug into his pocket to pull out his own one.

"They look exactly the same," he whispered to himself. They looked the same but _felt_ different. There was some difference that Kai could feel but it wasn't physical.

"Kai, are you okay?"

He looked up to see Judy's worried face. Then he looked down to his hands, a puzzled frown forming on his face. He was supposed to do something...Kai's hands went closer and closer to each other. The glow around him grew and started to move like a giant flame around him.

"It would be best if you stepped away from me." Kai said it but it didn't sound like him. It sounded as if there was a second voice talking at the same time.

The others quickly backed away from him, making sure not to bump into the podium. They didn't know if it was because they were doing what Kai told them to or because they were scared of what was about to happen and what was happening to Kai.

There was a light '_clink_' as Kai clapped his hands together.

Instantly, everyone was hit by a wind that knocked them all over apart from Kai. It let up as quickly as it came. They looked up to see the aura around Kai dissipating while he staring at something in his hand. Once it was gone completely, Kai swayed and fell onto his knees, breathing harshly.

He turned his head to look at him palm and mouthed something.

"Kai?" Judy asked uncertainly.

He jerked at the mention of his and and looked up at Judy unsteadily.

"What happened?"

Another glance at his hand.

Slowly, Judy repeated her question. "Kai, what happened to Dranzer?"

In the silent room, Kai's reply could be easily heard. "They merged."  


  
:-:-:

Hilary was quiet before she answered. "The only thing that could make that happen would be if we were being attacked."

"You're kidding," Tyson said, eyes wide.

"I'm not," she denied, shaking her head. "But if we were being attacked we would have been warned already." Frowning, she continued, "There are at least three different ways that we can be told of an attack. That was done to make sure that there was always a way to communicate in an emergency. Also, the lights shouldn't have flickered -they would have gone out completely."

"So...that means what?"

"It must have had something to do with the labs. If there was a surge of power but corrected-"

"That would explain the flickering lights," Tyson finished for her. "We goin' to the labs then?"

Hilary nodded. "They might need help or something."  


  
:-:-:

"Merged?" Kenny repeated. "But that's impossible! They're both physical, they shouldn't..."

He stopped because Kai had gotten back to his feet, walked over to him and handed the beyblade over to him to see. He also showed Kenny his other palm to show that there wasn't another beyblade there.

Kenny lightly ran his finger along the edge of one of the blades. The beyblade shape looked the same but it was the rest of it that was different. The blue had turned to an even darker shade while the red looked like the colour of blood. The biggest difference however, was the bitpiece. The picture of Dranzer had changed so that its back was no longer running down the side but was now completely facing out. It was hard to tell with such a small picture but Dranzer seemed bigger, wider. There was something else but Kai couldn't put his finger on it.

"My beyblade has changed and I saw what the bitpieces were like before; they were identical." Kai looked up when the door opened and let light into the dim room.

"Judy? Is everything okay?" someone asked at the doorway.

"Yes," she answered. "No one's hurt. We should be getting out of here," she said, turning to the other people in the room.

The majority of them nodded and started to leave. Kai waited for Kenny to stand up before asking for Dranzer back by holding out his hand. She was carefully placed in the middle of his palm. He then headed for the exit.

When he reached it he saw that everyone in the room was staring at him. The good thing -that Kai could see- was that they were stares of expectancy and not of fear or hate. Raising an eyebrow, he said, "What?"

It was Judy who answered. "I don't know what the merging did to you but do you think you're up to doing a simulation? All you have to do is launch Dranzer and summon her from her beyblade."

"I'm fine," he insisted. "Do I do it right here or is there a beydish?"

"It's right here," Judy said as she led him to it.

Kai had already taken his position and was about to launch when the door to the lab opened. He was going to ignore it when he heard a shout.

"Wha- Kai? What're you doing here?" Tyson. Great.

"Kai's agreed to help us," Judy reasured him. "I'll explain it to you but only after the demonstration." There was no further argument afterwards.

Kai nodded to her and launched. He instantly saw the difference from before: she was faster, he could tell that much as he tracked her movements around the 'dish. He didn't know about strength since there wasn't an opponent but he felt confident that she was stronger. A series of beeps broke him out of his analysis.

"Amazing!" a voice half-shouted in awe. "These stats are completely different form the information that was collected before."

"Kai, do you think you can summon Dranzer now?" he heard Judy ask.

Kai grunted an affirmative and then concentrated on what he normally did to summon Dranzer. He saw the bitpiece start to glow and watched it as it grew. It grew and grew until it formed the familiar form of his bitbeast. Dranzer flapped her wings and turned around to face her beyblader. To Kai, she nearly looked exactly how she normally did but there was something more, he could feel it. There was something else. That was when he noticed the extra energy. The energy that Dranzer normally gave off was never as high as what he was feeling. Kai could see that Dranzer had more definition than normal but was it because of the energy?

-'_It's because,_'- Kai heard in his mind, -'_there are two of us now._'- After hearing that, Kai saw something split from Dranzer and form it's own body. Looking back at his own Dranzer, he saw that she had gone back to her own transparency while the other Dranzer looked more solid. It was also coloured in red and gold rather than red and black. The other Dranzer felt the same as Dranzer but at the same time, off. There was just something about it that definitely set it apart from his own Dranzer. -'_When using us like this, it can't be for long,_'- his Dranzer dipped her head to look at Kai eye to eye, -'_You can't control the both of us like how you control me. Use me to attack and her,_'- she pointed with her beak, -'_to defend._'-

Kai frowned at the instruction. "Why?"

Dranzer shook her head. -'_Later. Or work it out foryourself. You've used up too much energy already._'-

"What?" It was too late though. The phoenixes returned to the bitpiece and the beyblade stopped spinning. It was then that Kai felt himself get suddenly weaker, as if something had stolen the strength from his legs -and generally everywhere else as well.

Kai felt someone touch his shoulder and he was surprised to see that it was Max. "You okay?" he asked him, worry evident in his eyes.

Kai was about to answer when the remaining strength in his body left him and he fell into the smaller blader. Max was lucky enough to have expected it and to not get skewered by Kai's wrist-guards. He didn't have to struggle with his weight for long because Ray and Tyson rushed to side to help him put down Kai.

During that time, Kai had become even paler than what was normal and had closed his eyes. His breath had become harsh again and sweat had already started to bead on his forehead.

"Mom!"

"Someone get Leo, now!"  


  
:-:-:

Judy looked at the Russian blader who was lying in front of her in the crisp white beds of the infirmary. It had been a few hours since he had been laid down there to rest.

They had managed to get a lot of information from that brief show but what could they do with it? Knowing that Dranzer was now faster and stronger didn't mean anything. If the blader near fainted after calling the bitbeast out for about a minute was there any point in doing it in the first place? It didn't seem like it. Especially if your opponent was Black Dranzer. The fight would end instantly if a bitbeast wasn't summoned and if it was, there was a big chance that the bitbeast would be over-powered.

You needed a bitbeast to fight a bitbeast.

But if the one bitbeast that looked like it was capable of handling Black Dranzer had such side effects was it worth trying?

"I thought I told you to get some rest?" Leo's stern voice said, breaking through her thoughts.

Judy shook her head to rid herself of them. "You did. I was just thinking."

"Of?" he prompted. "Of what can we do?" he asked when she didn't answer after a little while.

She nodded.

"You're talking about what's just happened with...this Kai," Leo said, waving his hand in Kai's direction. Leo had been given a brief account of everything before he started to check Kai over but it must of sounded so unbelievable.

"Yes."

"Well, he'll recover, that's for sure. He's just lost a lot of energy but you already know that." He smiled in her direction. "As far as I can tell, there's no permanent damage or any physical damage at all."

"That's good to hear."

Leo had to prompt her again. "Buut?"

"But is there any point in using a bitbeast that's like a double-edged sword?"

At this, Leo turned to look at Kai. "Isn't that the same for all bitbeasts though?" he asked faintly. At Judy's confused look he continued. "If you're going up against Black Dranzer there's a large chance that you'll lose and if that happens, you'll lose your bitbeast as well. So, do you fight and probably lose something precious to you or don't fight and watch as others are taken? I've never really 'bladed in my life but I know about the connection and relationship that a beyblader and bitbeast have for each other. If they lose their bitbeast, they feel like something is missing and become less of what they used to be. I've seen battles with bitbeasts in them and I've noticed that if the beyblader falls or gives up, the beyblade stops spinning right there and then. I'm not an expert but I'd say that a bitbeast relies on it's 'blader for something in exchange for it's extra strength and abilities. I'd say that that something is energy."

Judy's eyes widened. "So if there are two bitbeasts then more energy is needed for both to have a form. How does Kai do that with Black Dranzer and not faint?"

"Because..." a grunt, " Black Dranzer only uses one form at a time," a new voice answered.

Leo looked concerned when he saw Kai trying to sit up. "You shouldn't be trying to get up yet. "

Kai ignored him. "Where's Dranzer?" he asked Judy once he was up properly.

Judy pointed to one of the bedside tables. "Right there."

"Kai, you really need to rest," Leo said. "You've lost a lot of energy-"

"I didn't realise," Kai interrupted sarcastically.

"and sleeping is the best way of recovering."

Scowling at him, Kai said, "I would prefer to stay awake and to have food."

Shrugging towards Leo, Judy said, "I think we know that you're going to be stubborn about that so, as long as you stay in bed and don't strain yourself we'll leave you awake and give you food. Okay?"

"Fine."

Judy smiled at him and turned to walk away. "I'll see what I can get you then."

* * *

_And 'tis done. :3 In about four days. Which is probably a record for me. Did this all make sense?  
_

_So, did I get the Dranzer's the right way around? And the thing about Black Dranzer as well. Gah, I've really gotta rewatch the series again. _

_And who just _knew _that was going to happen with the Dranzer's? All of you?_

_Anyways, hope you liked it. :)_

_If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things._


	17. History

_Sorry it's taken me a while again. I've had my prelims and I lost the plot a little bit. And Tala and Kai weren't helping with trying to stay silent the whole way through. They both sound out of character though. Gah. At least Tala has an excuse. _

_And I had a little dilemma with a plot-hole, hopefully you won't notice where it is. _

_If you look closely, you might even see that I've tried to change my style. Prolly not but hey. _

_Anyways, enjoy._

* * *

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

History

* * *

Kai stared at the beyblade in his hands. The Dranzer that he knew was still there, but then, so was another. Were bitbeasts only able to communicate with their beybladers when they were out of their bitpiece? Frowning, Kai's thoughts continued. That would mean that he would only get about a minutes worth of information and then spend several hours in the infirmary feeling that he'd hardly rested at all when he woke up when he tried? 

The double-doors swished open. Kai glanced up expecting to see Judy but instead, saw Tala. Seeing that Kai was awake and that there was no one else was in the room (who was conscious) Tala stopped in his tracks. The two boys stared at each other, waiting for the other to do something.

Then the corner of Kai's mouth twitched.

It seemed to break the ice. Giving him a look, Tala approached the other blader and sat on the chair that Judy had been sitting on. "What's so funny?" he asked.

Kai shook his head in amusement. "It seems, whatever world we're in, we're on opposing teams."

Tala didn't meet his gaze. "Yeah..."

Again, it was quiet.

Another swish of the doors.

Judy looked up to see two pairs of eyes watching her; one pair was bored while the other was restless. "Tala? Do you need something?"

He shook his head. "No. I wanted to talk to Kai."

"Hmm." Judy walked up and handed Kai the tray that she was carrying. Glancing at the two boys she asked, "Do you want me to go so that you two can talk alone?"

They shared a look between them. Kai felt rather indifferent about it (he wasn't completely sure about it) but Tala slowly nodded. "Yeah. That'd be good, thanks."

"Okay," Judy said quietly. "I'll tell the others. Oh, and Kai? Remember out agreement -no getting out of bed." She left without waiting for a response.

Determinedly not looking at Tala, Kai picked at his food. Really, he wasn't _that_ hungry. It probably also had something to do with the fact that it felt like he hardly enough energy to even sit up straight. Now that he was given food, all Kai wanted to do was sleep until he was interested in it again.

"Kai, can you look at me?" Taking his attention away from his food, Kai sent the red-haired blader a flat look. "Look, I know, this is really weird; I'm finding it really weird as well."

Kai snorted upon hearing that. "No, I doubt you're finding it as strange as I am. I'm on a different planet and my ..._other_," Kai used the word for lack of a better one, "is something that I could have been, given the chance."

Tala winced. "Okay, you've got it worse. It's just strange for me since ...you've done a few things in the past and to then find that _you_ haven't done them..." Tala shook his head and sighed. "That doesn't make a lot of sense but you know what I mean."

"Hm. Are you going to tell me what I did here or will I be left in the dark?" When Tala hesitated, Kai raised an eyebrow and smirked sardonically. "Are you trying to protect me from the rest of the world?" Tala opened his mouth to answer but Kai cut him off. "_Don't._ I don't need your protection or anyone elses. What I _do_ need is information." Kai glared at Tala until the other boy sighed again.

"Yeah, you're owed that much, I suppose." Tala leaned forward, elbows on his knees. Seeing Kai's surprised look, he shrugged. "I think I picked it up from Tyson. Obviously, I don't sit like this -if I'm asked to- when I'm at the Abbey. It would arouse suspicion and the correction to make sure that I kept my posture..." He trailed off. Kai remembered enough to know exactly what Tala was implying. "So where should I start?" he said, bringing the conversation back on track.

"You said that I had terrorised the beyblading world after the World Championships -how exactly did I do it?"

Tala was quiet for a few seconds. "We were at an advantage from the start. First of all, the police had to believe that the Demolition Boys were even a threat. To them, we were just a bunch of kids who were famous for fighting with 'spinning tops' so what was so dangerous about us? What happened at the World Championships? 'A bad building plan that couldn't handle the stress of kids jumping up and down in excitement all at once.'" Tala didn't show it but the anger was building in his voice. "By the time the first death had happened," Tala briefly shut his eyes and steadied his breathing, "the cameras were broken so it wasn't broadcast on television."

Studying his ex-teammate, Kai was able to come to a conclusion about something. "It was you; you were the person to make the first kill." The statement was said quietly, without accusation.

Tala looking away was all that he needed. "The...joy, I suppose you could call it, of winning the World Championships was a little too much. We had won and we owed that to your grandfather so we would do anything for him. Feeling the rush of winning and the flood of power that our bitbeasts had, it felt like it was going straight to out heads. I did as I was told and that was it. I followed him like a sheep -no," Tala shook his head, "I did what I was told like a trained dog." A bitter smile. "But that was what we were always meant to be, wasn't it?"

"Tools to be used."

The red-haired blader nodded in agreement. "Tools to be used," he repeated.

:-:-:

Judy was back in the labs. After her vigil over Kai, she was eager to know if anything had been found out during her little break.

She was currently on a laptop, gazing at the information that was contained within it. Her eyes flicked back and forth at the stats. Leaning back in her chair, she sighed. It wasn't much, but maybe, just maybe...

:-:-:

"No one saw us leave -there was far too much confusion and panic for anyone to see us slipping away. I know, it doesn't seem like that could happen easily but it did. When the ceiling is falling on top of you, you concentrate on the ceiling and not on the ones that created the situation in the first place." Tala stopped and looked thoughtful. "There could have been people who saw us leave but because of the fact they would have been fighting over the noise of everyone else, they wouldn't have been heard. And knowing what they knew, knowing what we could do...if they spoke up, they probably thought that we would hunt them down."

"What happened after?"

"We went to the Abbey," Tala answered simply. "When the police came to search the Abbey, we were in the hidden part so they weren't able to find anything. What they saw was an orphanage that used beyblading as a recreational activity. When they saw that, they dismissed what the Bladebreakers' had said; pretty much thought that they were saying it to get attention and that they'd continue to lie so whatever they said wasn't to be believed.

"That changed that idea when they received the statements from the eye-witnesses at the stadium. They may not have been able to see the bitbeasts but they were still able to see the killings and that's what they said. I guess the police thought the deaths were from the falling debris. The Bladebreakers were given back some of their credibility but were still thought to have a little bit of an overactive imagination.

"However, that said, the police couldn't anything about it. They still can't. The only thing that they've done is put a broadcast on us 'if anyone should spot these killers they should contact the police immediately'," Tala said, deepening his voice, mimicking -Kai presumed- the newsreader. "and put up a list of our old 'haunts'. That's why this city is deserted -you lived here for a while and people were scared that you would come back and go on a killing spree.

"So, basically, only the beybladers who had bitbeasts would be able to do anything. Or rather, make any sort of challenge." There was another drawn out pause as Tala shifted in his seat, a frown forming on his face. "Kai was in a few beybattles a few times, near the beginning, but that stopped when bitbeasts were being taken and the beyblades destroyed after.

"Now all there is are bitbeast beybladers who can't fight directly for fear of losing their only weapon and the small organisations that have cropped up to try and stop Voltaire."

"This is one of them?"

Tala nodded. "Yeah. I have no idea how this place was set up or how long it took to do but it obviously had to be after everyone had left. It's big but I've been told that it's like this so if this hideout is discovered, they'll have time to get away while the intruders are trying to find their way around."

Kai nodding to himself was his only response.

"That's pretty much it. The bitbeast beybladers are unable to fight, and Voltaire takes new territory every once in a while -not so much that it's noticible but enough that he can extend his reach a little further."

:-:-:

Sometimes the stats made perfect sense but before she could grasp why, the thought slipped through another time and once again, she couldn't understand them.

The stats fluctuated.

Now, that was normal -when the bitbeasts came out, not when the beyblade was merely spinning. What Dranzer had been doing when the stats in front of her had been recorded was spinning around the beydish, before Kai had called her -_both Dranzers,_ Judy corrected herself- out of the beyblade.

Her fingers brought up another window. Those stats was just after both of the Dranzers had been called out of the bitpiece. The stats were still fluctuating but there wasn't such a big difference between the top and bottom numbers.

Judy watched the numbers as they rose and fell. They were always around about the same place, but not exactly. She knew what the answer was, it was at the tip of her fingers, a millimetre out of reach. It was frustrating and the screen in front of her only served to mock her further. The answer was right there but she just couldn't see it.

:-:-:

Mulling over what he had just learned about the world he was on, Kai found that he actually did have the energy to eat; the food however, didn't have enough energy to stay warm. Well, food was food and it was only for the benefit of the taste (among other things) that food was usually warm so it wasn't completely necessary for it to be that. Plus, he'd had worse.

He knew that Tala was watching him eat, waiting for him to finish and make a comment about what he had been told; he took his time. He needed it and he also wanted the extra minutes to think over it carefully -along with a few questions of his own.

This world's Kai was another version of himself. He was what he could have turned out to be if Tyson hadn't stopped him on Baikal Lake. Kai had felt the power Black Dranzer had, wielded it, knew the pull of it. To resist something like that after being raised to gain power at any cost was hard, very hard. It had drawn him in like a moth to a flame, promising that he could have anything if he stayed with her.

And then Tyson broke the spell.

If Tyson hadn't done that, would he be like this world's Kai? Most probably.

Kai's hands rested by his plate as a disturbing thought came to mind. Was he still doing what he had been taught to do? Was he still going after power? It didn't feel like it, didn't seem like he was overtly doing so, but then how did he simply not care about Black Dranzer anymore?

Because Dranzer had proven herself stronger.

Dranzer had shown that she was better than Black Dranzer and he had taken her back. At the start of the beybattle, he wasn't interested in such a 'weak' bitbeast but after beating Black Dranzer he went back to being Dranzer's beyblader. With almost no thought of Black Dranzer; just like he had left Dranzer.

A red glow drew his eyes to the bedside table. He picked Dranzer up and closed his hand around her. It wasn't for comfort exactly, it was so that he knew she was actually there. She was the only one here from his own world. She was also the one he could recognise. The others he could also recognise but not as the people that he knew them as; the slight differences they had declared that he didn't belong on this world. Some were so different it was like they were another person. Kai's eyes slid to the red-haired beyblader sitting in front of him before they fixed themselves back onto Dranzer.

The glow brightened but didn't move like the last time it had shown itself. Kai felt the uneasiness that he had lessen and something else replace it. It was relaxing and calmed him down somewhat. He then realised that the muscles around his jaw and neck were tense. Taking a deep breath, he slowly relaxed them.

"You don't think so?" The question was directed to his beyblade.

There was no reply that could be seen but Kai sensed her answer in his head. No. Another feeling surfaced. Trust.

Dranzer trusted him.

Guilt. It wasn't Dranzer's -it was his own. Had she trusted him when he left her? Did he deserve to be her beyblader after -

Kai hissed in pain, dropping Dranzer and hearing her clatter on the tray.

He shook the burnt hand, cooling it. Closer inspection showed that the burn was superficial -the hand was red but there was no damage. The pain was already dwindling to a dull throb.

"I take it you disagree," Kai muttered sarcastically.

"You okay?" He looked up to see that Tala was already halfway out of chair. "Do you want me to get Leo?"

"I'm fine." To prove his point, Kai closed his hand into a fist. He could feel the blood pumping around the palm but that was all.

Tala didn't look completely convinced but he sat himself back down. "As much as I am interested in what the two, three of you are arguing about -"

"It doesn't matter. She knows what she wants and I don't think that I can do anything about it." '_If she still wants me as a trainer, that's all that matters._'

Tala gave him a smile to show that he understood and that he was amused by the situation. It threw Kai as he didn't think he had ever seen him smile like that before and if he had, it wold have been when they were young.

Kai sighed as drowsiness started to make itself known. He moved the tray to the bedside-table and settled down in the bed.

The scrape of a chair moving along the floor jerked him into wakefullness for a few seconds.

"See you when you wake up." Already, Tala was walking away.

:-:-:

  
Judy had a pen in her hand and it was tapping a continious beat on the table-top. It had a way of giving her something to do and something else to concentrate on, if only for a while. 

The jump. The fall. The jump. The fall.

There was nothing in the clip that showed it. The beyblade moved at a constant speed, not wavering for a second.

If she could talk to Dranzer maybe then she could get her answer. Not that you could actually talk them, even if Kai seemed to be when he had called both of the Dranzers out.

Both Dranzers.

Two sets of data.

Were the stats fluctuating because they were fighting each other?

:-:-:

  
_Ping._

Green eyes flashed at the sound. He hated being announced whenever he came to the building. He didn't understand why the tinny was still there.

He waited for his teammates to get off the lift. Now, to find Judy...

* * *

_And that's another chaper done. _

_Jeez, Kai sounds like he's got girl problems. -.-'_

_And I so know that the characters that have just appeared, I'm going to characterise them wrong. Can anyone guess who they are?_

_Anyways, that's enough of my whining. Hope you liked it._


	18. Dilemma

_Well, I'm back with another chapter. Basically, I hate this chapter. I have a feeling that they're out of character and I don't know how to fix it. _

_So, on another note, can you spot the deliberate mistake? _

_Oh. My. Word, what the heck did I do to Judy? How much did I dumb her down?_

_Oh yes, and I unfortunately am unable to think of a better word for 'would' for about oh…half of the fic? This means that it's going to end up in pretty much ever paragraph after the first half. If you can think of a better in some place, can you tell me? Actually, there's a lot of repeated words…Ack._

_Argghhh…I'm getting a little bit annoyed at the fact I'm having to refer to Kai as 'this' and 'that' or 'this worlds' and 'the other worlds' because it just doesn't make sense sometimes. I just wanna go and get the Kai from the 'right' timeline and name him Daisuke. Anyone who gets the reference gets a cyber cookie. _

_Enough of my whining; enjoy._

_

* * *

_

**Of Different Worlds**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Dilemma

* * *

Judy's chin was in the palm of her hand as she leaned her elbows on the tabletop. Could that be the reason? _Were_ the two Dranzers fighting one another? 

She continued to watch the screen, eyes following the chart as it moved in its repetitive pattern. The Dranzer from Judy's world had lost to Black Dranzer while the other Dranzer had beaten Black Dranzer. That alone should say that there was a difference. But the question was why? Why were they different from each other? If the timeline diverged during the World Championships how was one Dranzer able to win against Black Dranzer and the other not if they had the same training? The exact same training. They had that but one was still stronger.

How was that possible?

:-:-:

"You know," Ozuma's eyes flicked to his blue-haired teammate as she spoke up, "Max sent me an e-mail about an incident that happened a few days ago."

"What?" Joseph yelped. "What is he doing, doing that? If that was traced-"

"They wouldn't know," Mariam cut in. "We used our other e-mail addresses and Max didn't name any specifics. He only said that some weird things had been happening." She shrugged. "He didn't say what they were except that after one of them, a few people were hurt."

"And you only thought to tell us _now_?" Ozuma hated not knowing something. It meant that there was something that he hadn't planned for; another factor that could change everything.

"It didn't seem that important," she protested.

"But it was still information that had been withheld."

Mariam stifled a sigh.

Joseph decided to interrupt the conversation before it evolved into an argument. "If people were hurt, they would have been sent into the infirmary and Judy could be there checking up on them." When he noticed his teammates looking at him strangely, he looked back at themm puzzled. "What?"

"Huh. Looks like you _can_ use your brain after all," his sister said, smirking down at him.

He glared.

"It's the best place to start so let's go," Ozuma ordered.

:-:-:

Judy had brought up a new window -this one showed the stats of the Dranzer from her world. Comparing it to the stats that had been collected from Kai's demonstration, it showed that the lowest fluctuation was higher than Dranzer's strength. It wasn't by much and since they didn't know what the other Kai's Dranzer was like before the merging, Judy didn't know if the highest stats were near to what she used to be like. She hadn't asked Kai if there was a difference between what she used to be like and what she was like now. For all she knew, Dranzer was weaker than before. Kai hadn't looked happy or displeased with her performance so maybe she was exactly the same...

:-:-:

Ozuma pushed the door open and peeked in. No one was there; maybe she was talking to Leo.

Motioning towards his teammates, he walked in. What he saw as he did were five lumps on separate beds and the only sounds coming were coming from the heart monitors and medical ventilators. He walked past the first bed without looking who was in it -as if he'd know anyway- but turned around when he heard Mariam gasp.

Kai.

Kai was there.

Ozuma felt his heartbeat and breath quicken as the full impact of the thought hit him. His eyes widened as reasons for why he was there ran amok through his head. He reached into his pocket to pull out Flash Leopard and saw the others do the same. There was no need for speech and if there was, they wouldn't say because it could wake the blue-haired blader.

Nodding towards each other, they raised their beyblades as one.

:-:-:

Judy drummed her fingers on the tabletop. It _seemed_ like she had worked out the problem but what could she do with the information?

If she thought about the battle that would happen -if Black Dranzer attacked at a low point…And even if Black Dranzer hit Dranzer when she was at a high point, would that be enough?

And then it went back to the problem of the battle length.

The obvious solution would be to train but if every time Kai summoned the Dranzers he ended up in hospital…

Wait.

That would only happen if he went past the minute limit. If he were to summon them and call them back to the bitpiece before a minute had gone by he would hypothetically only be winded. Judy didn't know how much energy was exchanged and the rate that it was exchanged at so working out the maximum length of time that Kai would have to summon the Dranzers was out.

He would still need some time-out to recover the lost energy but at least he wouldn't be in a coma-like state for a few hours.

There was another problem that Judy had on her mind: what would happen next? If this new Dranzer was able to beat Black Dranzer what would happen afterwards? The world would then have two versions of the one person on it. That was something that wasn't meant to happen ever, yet it had. From some of the theories that she had read, apparently the world would start to 'reject' the 'extra' person. There were other ones but this one was the most drastic. If the world was actually alive.

But who was to say that Earth _wasn't_ a sentient being?

There was no proof for or against the idea but now, with the arrival of Kai, Judy's eyes had been opened to see that anything could happen or be true. Did that mean if Kai was able to beat Black Dranzer, was he going to die after a set amount of time? But how long could he have? Judy quickly worked out how long Kai had been with them. Two days.

How long would he have left? Day, months or years? Or would he just not die and live the rest of his life with them?

Away from his friends.

The drumming stopped. Just had been so focused on the fact that there was something new to study that she didn't think about what Kai would do properly. Kai was away from every single person he knew and the only one that he knew well who was with him was Dranzer. She sighed resignedly.

Would Kai be more focused on helping their cause or would he rather try to get home?

:-:-:

Ozuma shifted his weight slightly to make sure he that he would keep his balance when he launched Flash Leopard.

He started to whisper the countdown. "Three…Two…One, let it-"

"Stop!"

Upon reflex, Ozuma whirled around, finger still in the ring. "Why?" Eyes narrowed to look suspiciously at the doctor. Why was he protecting the blader?

Leo froze, his hands raised to say that he was harmless as three beyblades were pointed in his direction. "Look," he said calmly, "I'm not the one to explain this to you –Judy is. I know it's asking for much but can you wait to talk to Judy before attacking Kai? He's not going anywhere for the next couple of hours."

"Oh? You know this for a fact?" Ozuma asked sarcastically. Had Kai made Leo protect him while he slept?

Leo nodded. "He's just eaten and the food had sedatives in them."

Kai shifted in his bed, murmuring.

Pausing his argument, Leo watched Kai sleep. When the blader didn't move again, he nodded to himself. He turned back to the conversation. "Kai isn't going to wake up any time soon," he repeated. "You have my word as a doctor."

"Hmph." Ozuma glanced at the sleeping blader. His eyes were drawn to the blue markings on his face before going back to Leo. "He hasn't attacked anyone?"

Leo shook his head. "No. He'll still be drowsy when he wake up as well, if you're wondering." He was scrutinised for a few more seconds before Ozuma looked away.

"Fine." He put Flash Leopard back into his pocket and motioned the others to do the same. "Where's Judy?"

"She'll be in the labs."

Throwing Kai one final glance –just to make sure- the Saint Shields left the infirmary.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Leo stood there watching Kai breathe in and out. Noting that it was all normal, he contemplated taking Kai's scarf off incase he ended up suffocating himself. He wondered why he hadn't done so already.

Then he remembered. The scarf was loose enough to not constrict breathing and if Kai didn't roll on top of it, he'd be fine. Also, Leo didn't know how to take it off.

He walked away, intending to check up on his other patients.

With his back turned, Leo didn't see that Kai was glowing a faint red…

:-:-:

Judy sighed tiredly. What would Kai choose? Yes, Kai was different from the Kai that they were more familiar with but that didn't instantly mean that he would want to help them. He had no obligation to. The only ray of hope that Judy had was the fact that Kai hadn't said anything definite about helping them or not. Or said _anything_ on that subject for that matter.

Judy knew that but she still needed to figure out the problems. She preferred doing them herself as it helped with other things that happened later. There was also the chance that something 'small' could have been missed out of the debriefing.

It was only about nine anyway; not _that_ late.

Would she have to try and convince Kai to help them? She snorted and shook her head at the thought. What exactly could she say that would sway him to their side? That he'd be able to put his grandfather in jail…again?

Basically, it wasn't his problem.

Of course, she didn't know Kai very well and her opinion would be coloured by this world's Kai's exploits.

If Kai _did_ decide to just find a way to get home that would also mean that he would be taking both of the Dranzers with him as well. Unless of course they were able to find a way to split them apart but since what Kai had pretty much done was clap his hands, how could the opposite be done? Have his hands together with Dranzer inbetween the palms and then pull his hands apart? Let's not forget the Kai had been practically _neon_ with that aura that surrounded him at the time.

If Kai helped them and won …Kai still looked like Kai. 'Their' Kai would be behind bars but then Kai would be painted with the same brush and so everyone would assume that Kai would sooner or later decide to go on a killing spree. To make sure that it didn't happen again, they could just decide to 'put him away' as well.

Judy could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. It wasn't because the thoughts of 'this' Kai and 'that' Kai were starting to get just a little bit confusing but it was because another question had occurred to her: who the heck would believe them?

Rubbing her temples and closing her eyes, Judy leaned away from the monitor. Who would believe them when (or if) they said that 'this' Kai was from another world –a parallel to their own? No one, that was who.

There would obviously be a blood test –as Judy herself had done- and what the evidence would say that the two Kais were identical. As the theory of a parallel world would have been thrown out the window, the doctor's solution was 'obvious': he was a clone. The next question to be asked would be why would Voltaire make a clone of his grandson. The answer that they would come up with –or they could just ask them man- was that he didn't and who was the next candidate most likely to make a clone, who was the person who benefited from having a clone of Kai?

Judy.

By that time, she would have _had_ to have come out to say her involvement in what had transpired. No one would believe her if she said that Kai was from another world – the people who already knew only accepted that fact because they knew and trusted Judy.

There was no way to prove that Kai came from a parallel world –they would assume that they were memories that Judy had implanted into him. They wouldn't ask about the two bitbeasts inhabiting the one bitpiece because they wouln't know and wouldn't care. If they _did_ check and found the two Dranzers, after taking their colleague to the hospital for severe exhaustion –_or for falling into a coma,_ a part of Judy's mind muttered- they would think that Judy had made them.

To them, that confirmed that Judy had broken the cloning laws. The punishment for doing so was jail. There was also the possibility that she would win some sort of prize for her 'sucessful clone'. But that didn't matter.

That being said, Kai would then be destroyed. It was for his own good, they would say. It wouldn't be fair, cloning him from a killer would be another argument. The last reason they would have would be the reasoning that Kai would be exactly what he was cloned from: a killer. That would be completely ignoring the nature-nurture debate but it wouldn't matter; as long as Kai was free, the public wouldn't be happy.

Shoulders slumped as Judy moved to turn the computer off. It was far too much to take in at once. Hopefully a good nights sleep would help her to clear her head. Hearing the hard-drive power down, she turned and nearly bumped into the table as she stepped back in surprise.

"Judy." Ozuma nodded to her in greeting.

Pausing momentarily to collect herself, Judy asked, "What are you doing here?"

Ozuma and the rest of his teammates walked closer to her. "We came to see if there was anything that you needed help with," he answered evenly.

Judy weighed the options that she had; she could tell the Saint Shields what had happened over the last couple of days but would they believe her? They would have to take Tala's word for it, when he said that he had seen the 'real' Kai see him off on the plane. On the other hand, they seemed to hate Kai vehemently, more so than the other bladers. Considering what had happened though, Judy felt that she really shouldn't have been surprised. What would they do if they discovered Kai in the infirmary?

She shook her head. "No, there isn't anything _too_ pressing at the moment."

"Really?" Ozuma asked flatly. "If there isn't anything too 'pressing' then maybe you would like to explain to us why Kai is in the infirmary?"

Judy felt the blood drain away from her face. What had they done when they found him?

"If you're worrised that we killed him, don't be –Leo stopped us before we could do anything," Joseph said nonchalantly.

Ozuma nodded. "He told us to talk to you before deciding what to do." He looked lazily at her. "Well? Why didn't you tell us straight away that you had captured Kai?"

"Because we haven't."

Raising an eyebrow, Ozuma asked his next question. "Then who was that person sleeping in the infirmary?"

Judy sat down and motioned the other to do the same. When they did, she took a deep breath and said, "I'm going to tell you what I know but I don't expect you to believe me. Please, let me finish before making any comments." Making sure they nodded in agreement, Judy started to explain the circumstances for a second time that day.

* * *

_Ugh. I totally blame the fact that she was thinking what was going to happen for all the 'woulds'. Ugh. Three would's in the one sentence. (shakes head)_

_I think I may have just backed myself into a wall here as well. Brilliant. _

_Whatever. I'm always negative about my work so hopefully you liked it where I don't. _

_Anyways, as always, if you spot any problems, spelling or grammar mistakes please tell me. _


	19. Waking

(Sighs) Yeeah, long time updating. Again. I may as well just quit with the promises with quick updates for this fic. I find a shiny new plot and go with that and leave this in the dust for a couple 'nother of months. Not to mention none of the people in the recent updates have really liked talking so it's like making a brick talk to you.

Short chapter but you can probably guess why.

I need to find transcriptions for the beyblade episodes; I can't remember _at all_ how the Saint Shields act.

Edited the previous chapters.

Done of my whinning? So go enjoy the short chapter now. : )

* * *

**Of Different Worlds  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon**  
**

Waking

* * *

Kai took a deep breath when he realised that he was awake. Where was he? He was on a bed; that much was obvious. But where? Where was he? With his eyes still closed, Kai listened to his surroundings. 

The rasp of a medical ventilator.

The continuing beep of heart monitors.

Another deep breath; Kai would smell the disinfectant that was on the floor. So, he was in some sort of hospital.

Why?

Kai twitched as a flurry of images flickered behind his closed eyes. They went too fast to track properly but Kai could somehow understand all that happened in the one second that he saw it. He heard all the conversations and remembered the thoughts that came with each 'picture'.

When the barrage of images stopped, Kai slowly opened his eyes and looked towards 'his' bedside table. Dranzer was there -'_along with another one,_' his mind reminded him. Her bitpiece was even facing him. The bitpiece then started to glow softly, knowing that her blader was awake.

Pulling himself into a sitting position, Kai then reached over and put Dranzer into his pocket without a word.

So should he wait for someone to check up on him or should he leave and try to find someone?

Kai snorted as he shifted under the covers to get more comfortable. As if that question really needed answered.

:-:-:

Ozuma crossed his arms, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. "You _cannot_ be serious." He saw his teammates nodding in agreement from the corner of his eyes.

Judy sighed as she heard the remark. "I assure you, what I've said tonight is all true. Every single sentence, every single _word_ is the truth," she said quietly. She didn't continue on, knowing that there was no point in arguing with them once they had become stubborn. She could only wait for them to realise the truth and that would take time. It wasn't something that she could convince them with with only words. She could also (eventually) introduce them properly to Kai; if or when she was sure that they wouldn't attempt to hurt or kill him.

"Hmph." Joseph looked away from her. "That's you only explanation for this? That's it?"

Mariam pursed her lips while her narrowed eyes were fixed on Judy. Her arms were folded across her chest as well. "When will we get to speak to this Kai when he's awake?"

Judy looked worriedly at the teenagers in front of her. They had listened to her but when the topic of Kai came up, their reaction was always rage-filled with whatever was being said -not that she could blame them really. "How do I know that you won't harm him if or when you meet him?"

The three teenagers glanced at each other, waiting for some sort of signal.

"We won't attack him," Ozuma said with certainty, talking for all of them. "But if we think he's a threat..." He trailed off, not needing to continue.

:-:-:

A swish of a door opening and swinging shut. Kai jerked at the sound. Footsteps. He had gotten so used to the mechanical sounds around him that any foreign sound was instantly noticed. Had he fallen asleep again? Or did he just go into some sort of trance?

It wasn't as if there was anything else to do. But the difference between the two wasn't that important was it? They were just two different (similar) things to pass the time.

The footsteps paused at the foot of each bed (Kai assumed) for a few seconds before moving onto the next bed. The ritual was vaguely familiar to Kai, not that he could remember where from. Or that he couldn't remember everything at that particular moment. Thinking over it for a few seconds, he concluded that it must have been the first time that he'd been in the ward. Unless everyone was in the habit of doing that, but Kai doubted that. The curtains that had been partially pulled around Kai's bed meant that he couldn't see who it was that was coming.

There was a small pause before the footsteps started to head towards Kai's bed. This time Kai noticed, they were moving slower, more hesitant.

Ah, so that's who it was. It was the doctor. Something Kai realised that he really should have known but it felt like there was something in his head that meant he couldn't think as clearly or quickly as he used to. And they seemed to be a little shorter than normal as well.

The doctor's eyes had widened in surprise when he had seen Kai. It couldn't have been because he'd never seen Kai before so it had to be because he was awake.

So maybe there was more to Kai's current thinking speed than he thought.

"Kai?" the doctor said gently, almost as if he would wake the other patients as he walked up to him.

All he did was raise an eyebrow for an answer, playing along with trying to keep quiet.

"What are you -how did you, ah..." the doctor struggled with the question that he wanted to ask Kai.

Kai didn't try to help him; he merely watched as the man floundered with the words. Well, he didn't know what he wanted to ask anyway so he couldn't help even if he wanted to.

The doctor seemed to sort out what he wanted to say. "How are you feeling?" That was all he was trying to say?

"Fine."

"Not sleepy?"

"No."

"Hmm." The doctor was looking at him puzzledly.

Kai watched the doctor until he started to squirm. "...What?"

The doctor shook his head. "Hm? Oh, it's nothing. It doesn't matter."

Kai gave him a flat look. "Right."

The two of them looked up when they heard the swish of doors opening. The doctor gave Kai a doubtful look when he thought that Kai couldn't see him before he started to leave Kai's side to see who it was.

From what Kai could hear, it was a group of people so it was probably the rest of the Bladebreakers. But then why was there no one talking? Because they also thought that he was asleep?

"Leo," he heard Judy called out, "how's-" She momentarily paused when she saw that Kai was awake. "Kai, how are you feeling?" she asked him.

Kai heard someone hiss and the curtain that hid the rest of the group was wrenched away to reveal three teenagers that Kai had never seen before. They were glaring at him with distrust and anger.

Kai ignored them and turned to Judy. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Just because I fainted it doesn't mean I'm fragile." From the corner of his eyes, Kai saw the red-and-black haired boy send the doctor (Leo?) an accusatory glare. Leo shrugged helplessly in response.

"But it _does_ mean that you have to recuperate. You haven't rested that much since it happened." Judy frowned in what Kai thought was worry. He snorted at that. Hearing that, Judy's frown deepened. "It's only been five hours."

Kai shrugged at the statement. "It happened because of lack of energy. The amount of time that I've slept today is near enough to what I normally sleep at night."

Hearing this, Judy sighed and rubbed her forehead with a hand. "You just have to be stubborn don't you?"

"And who would I be if I wasn't?" Kai smirked. The smirk slipped a little when he felt a pulse in his pocket. It couldn't be because of Judy so it had to have something to do with the teenagers. It could be because they had bitbeasts but then why would she wait so long to tell him? Huh, maybe bitbeasts slept as well. Or the other bitbeasts could hide their presence; something like that.

He saw the red-and-black-haired boy twitch slightly. So it was probably his bitbeast that Dranzer was reacting to and vice-versa. He then saw the other two react in a similar way.

An entire team with bitbeasts. Well, that wasn't exactly uncommon but how was it that it was only now that they appeared and not at the World Championships?

'_Or maybe they _had _here,_' his mind said, reminding him that he didn't belong there.

Judy noticed the rising tension and the looks that were being exchanged but didn't say anything about it. The silence stretched on; seemingly, neither 'side' wanted to break it first.

"Well, I suppose an introduction is in order." Kai's eyes flicked to Judy. She indicated the red-and-black-haired boy, "This is Ozuma," the blue-haired girl, "Mariam," and the green-haired boy, "and Joseph." She dropped her hand and continued. "Dunga isn't here at the moment but together they made the Saint Shields." She turned to the three teenagers. "This is Kai Hiwitari."

"We know," Ozuma stated coldly, his eyes not leaving Kai's.

To be fairly honest, Kai felt a little weirded out by the fact that none of the Saint Shields had pupils. He knew that they couldn't be blind -you would have to be either very skilled, have an extremely strong bond with your bitbeast or bother to beyblade- so it could be some sort of birth defect. Or you had to have no pupils to be part of the team.

Kai sighed as he focused completely on Judy. "Is there a reason why you came? I'm assuming that it had nothing to do with me." He settled against the backboard as he slipped one hand into his pocket to Dranzer; the first movement masking the second.

Judy looked between the two 'sides' again and decided that she couldn't do anything to resolve the rising hostility (mainly on the Saint Shields side) herself and it was up to them to deal with it. Hopefully it wouldn't end with more people in the ward. "Actually, it did. I came to check up on you too see when you might wake up because the Saint Shields wanted to talk to you."

Kai raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms, Dranzer hidden in his right hand. "Because I was drugged."

"No you were-"

"_Yes_, I was," Kai interrupted her. "I saw your reactions; you were both surprised that I was awake when you came and I wasn't even sleepy just before I had," he paused, then shook his head a little angrily, "food." He was annoyed at the fact that he didn't know how long he had been out for, or what the time was. The ward obviously didn't have any windows for him to look out of.

"There was a reason for that," Leo said quietly, finally rejoining the conversation. "_You_ may have thought that you were fine," a small frown formed on his face, "but I'd rather not have you pushing your body beyond its limits when you could be resting instead."

"Hmph." It was understandable from the doctor's point of view but Kai guessed that there was another reason behind it. It was the assumption that since 'their' Kai had ended up being the way that he was, there was a chance that he would too so they would have to take precautions. Were they that alike or would they just never trust him completely?

Ozuma turned his head to look up at Judy. "Now that we know that Kai's awake, can we talk to him?" The way that he said it was not as a question but as a demand.

Judy eyed Ozuma warily and then his teammates. Her eyes then flicked to Kai but she looked away again before he could tell what she was feeling. She chewed her bottom lip while she tried to make her decision; it didn't take her long. Slowly, she nodded and stopped biting on her lip. "Yes, you can but he had better not be hurt in any kind of way when I get back. Understood?"

The three teenagers nodded for their answer, not looking at her.

Judy seemed to find this acceptable. She cast another look at Kai before indicating with her head to Leo to leave as she turned to leave the four of them in peace. Leo hurried after her. Huh, maybe they trusted him after all if they were willing to leave him alone with a room with other people.

"So," Ozuma started when they heard the swish of the doors, "you're from some _parallel_ world where all that's happened here from a certain point didn't." His voice dripped with an ironic tone while his crossed arms and tilted head yelled at Kai to contradict him.

Kai matched the superior look and sent it back. "That's what I was told. You think _I_ can believe this? From what I know of this world, it would seem that me being from a parallel world is the other answer that fits. Not that I've been given a lot of time to think about this," he added.

Joseph, being the closest one to Kai -not that was much since they were still standing at the foot of his bed- asked, "Do you have Dranzer with you?"

Kai looked at him, held his gaze and then raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking when you already know the answer?" Then pushed himself up higher on the bed.

"Would you believe me if I said that I was being polite?"

Mariam snorted; Joseph turned and glared at her.

Ignoring them, Kai looked back to their team leader. "I have a feeling that you've already seen Dranzer."

Ozuma shook his head, his jaw clenched. "_We_ haven't. Dunga, on the other hand, has. And that's the reason why he isn't here. He battled against the 'other you' and lost."

Kai shrugged. "And? I'm not the one who did it so if you're trying to blame me for it-"

"We're not," Ozuma interrupted him. "We want to make sure that you don't become the same at the 'other you'." He tilted his head again, and Kai could see the challenge in his eyes. "So how about a beybattle?"

* * *

Sooo, see you people again in about five months time again?  



End file.
